Have you never seen a deaf piano player?
by MilaDance
Summary: Bay/Emmett from episode 1-08 onwards  dealing with everything their relationship brings . Will probably be many chapters eventually. First fanfic, so be kind!
1. Chapter 1

Have you never seen a deaf piano player?

Starts at the end of 1-08, but dismisses the last Bay scene, so the last scene we know of her, is her breaking down at Emmett's. The title is a quote by famous (and deaf) composer Ludwig van Beethoven.

Emmett looks at her, lying there on his bed, her hair a mess, mascara run down her cheeks, her eyes swollen from crying. He was not exactly sure what had happened at home, the girl talks a hundred miles an hour, but he isn't stupid, Daphne had told him about her mother knowing all along and he can put 2 and 2 together. Not being able to give her comforting words she would understand, he had held her instead and kind of rocked her until she was all cried out. He had noticed her body had stopped moving rhythmically with her sobs and when he bent over and looked at her face he had seen she had fallen asleep. He lay her down, took her shoes off and put his blanket over her and now he is wondering what to do.

Maybe he should text Daphne, whatever happened was clearly very upsetting, but if she asks to come over to talk he would be in a compromised position, what with Bay in his bed under his covers. And so he doesn't text, he just sits there and watches Bay sleep.

When Bay wakes up she is confused. Where is she? She looks around the room, trying to see something then spots the wall in front of her, full of pictures and realizes it is Emmett's. Her eyes feel sticky and her mouth is bone-dry, she must have passed out while sobbing. She looks at the alarm clock next to the bed and sees it is 4 am. Shit! Her parents must be worried sick by now. At the thought of parents she gets that awful feeling in the pit of her stomach again and she involuntarily draws in a sharp breath, as if she was preparing for another sob-fest. She looks around the room, her eyes adjusting to the darkness and she sees that the "Daphne shrine" is again covered by a sheet. Half smiling she crawls to the foot of the bed, where she spotted her handbag, takes out her cell and checks. 17 missed calls, 16 from her parents, 1 from Daphne. She texts: "Am fine, sleeping at a friends. See you tmw" to both her mother's and Daphne's cell phone and then crawls back and settles into the bed again, pulls the covers up to her chin and closes her eyes. It only takes a few seconds and she is back asleep.

When Melody walks to the kitchen she spots her son asleep on the couch. That couch is getting pretty popular lately, she had seen Daphne asleep there a night or two ago, but ever the gentlewoman she did not wake her or mention it. She looks at her son and sees the little boy she used to have to carry around aged 4 because he claimed "his legs were too tired for walking", and she also sees the man he will be in a few years. Mother's magical eyes, that see past, present and future, she thinks and smiles to herself. She leans down and shakes him softly until he is awake.

"What happened? Your bed got bedbugs? Another monster under your bed?" she asks smirking at the allusion of the imaginary monster that used to drive Emmett to try to sleep in his parents' bed for years when he was in primary school. He rolls his eyes and then signs "A friend had a crisis last night, she needed somewhere to crash".

Melody nods and goes into the kitchen to make coffee while Emmett walks (a little bend over, some parts of his body tend to wake up before the rest) to the bathroom. After his shower he realizes he has to go into his bedroom to retrieve boxers and clean clothes. With the towel around his waist he tiptoes into his room where he can make out the shape of Bay on the bed. He opens the closet very slowly and in one swift move he lets go of the towel and puts on some underpants.

Bay is woken up by the door creaking and she sees the betowelled Emmett creep into the room on his tippytoes in the semi-darkness, but she doesn't move; she closes her eyes again, her head turned towards the door. Once she opens her eyes, she sees he is dressed and on his way out, so she sits up. He looks at her in that tender way that one looks at a very sick child or a newborn animal and then signs and mouths "you ok?". She nods. She is not really ok, but it is impossible for her to explain, she tried yesterday and it was infuriatingly frustrating. He walks over to the bed, sits down next to her, tucks a lock back behind her ear and softly places a kiss on her lips. She automatically closes her eyes and when she open them again and looks into his face she thinks 'Oh dear God, I must have the worst morning breath'. She over-enounces "Bathroom?" and then mimes "Toothbrush?".

He shows her to the bathroom and hands her a towel, then points to a red toothbrush and signs "mine". She nods and as he leaves she wonders if he wanted to say "don't touch that one, it is mine" or if he meant "use it, it is mine". She looks in the mirror, pulls a grimace at her swollen and streaked face, then grins and says out loud "well, if he felt like kissing you when you look like this… it must be true love", then grabs the red toothbrush and puts some paste on it.


	2. Chapter 2

He stands outside Buckner and waits, watching the uniformed kids pour out of the school in small groups now, after the initial avalanche. He had to skip last period because he was pretty sure she was getting out earlier than him on Fridays, but this was a special circumstance, right? Afraid he might have missed her, he keeps turning left and right to see if she is catching a ride with some school friend or Toby. Finally he sees her, she is walking slowly, immersed in thoughts, not really taking in a whole lot of her surroundings. He watches her for a few seconds, she is very pretty, even in that ugly uniform, with her hair tied back yet parts of it refusing to fully stay in the ponytail. He is a photographer, used to catching beauty on film and he wishes he was close enough to catch the way that rebellious curl keeps jumping out from behind her ear.

He waves at her and she looks up, her face lighting up as she sees him, making him smile almost involuntarily (how come she has this effect on him? He has never been a smiler and now he can't stop smiling constantly in her presence). She starts walking faster, skipping almost until she is right in front of him; he can smell his own shampoo in her hair as she leans forward and softly puts her lips on his.

She is so glad to see him, the whole day she has kept hearing Regina's words over and over in her head, and, unable to keep her attention on any subject, been told off twice for daydreaming, once in French and once in math. She wasn't sure what she was going to do after school, home did not feel like an option, with her parents, all 3 of them, possibly there. And of course Daphne. Everybody loves Daphne, everybody prefers her to me, she is thinking when she sees him, standing there, waving. Well, maybe not everybody! She kisses him and then asks, signing haphazardly the few words she knows "What are you doing here? Or rather what are we doing NOW?"

He keeps grinning at her (he must have the sweetest smile ever, how did she not notice how sweet his smile was until recently?) and he signs "Something special"; she doesn't catch the second word and looks confused so he quickly thinks of a word he knows she understands, "something cool".

He hands her the extra helmet and she gets on, her arms tightly wrapped around his middle, as he revs the bike. He loves the power of the bike, the vibration of its noise going through his body and, he won't lie, he doesn't exactly mind female arms tucked around him. Though it was a bit unexpected that he would enjoy these particular female arms so much, when since he was 8 years old, he had been positive he would only ever love one (strawberry blonde) girl in his whole life. So sure had he been of this, that when he had dated a girl last summer, he ended up thinking of it as practice. Was Bay also practice? He wasn't trying to be mean, he didn't mean to hurt her, but he was not sure what he was feeling. He only knew he felt great with her, he liked her a whole lot, but could he like two girls at once? In very different but very real ways?

All of this had been going around his head as he tried to sleep on that couch last night, yet when today he could chose between staying in English lit and then going for a ride with Daphne or skipping and making Bay smile, he had no trouble choosing. Then again Daphne had not spent an hour crying herself into sleepy oblivion last night and this morning she had not looked happy but not really all that depressed either when he had seen her across the hallway.

The place he is taking Bay is not exactly close by, it takes them nearly 45 minutes to get there with the afternoon traffic slowing them down considerably but once he is there and he quickly turns to see her face when she realizes where they are, he knows it was worth the ride.

"A fun fair?" she exclaims. How does he know she loves fun fairs? She looks at him and he nods, then makes signs she is not sure are actual signs or "charade signs" to make her understand him, imitating a Ferris wheel with his fingers and pretending to eat candy floss, all the while lifting up his eyebrows repeatedly, clearly meaning "how awesome is that?". She grabs his hand and entwines her fingers with his, "Let's go in!".

It is still early and there are not that many people there, a few middle-school kids shooting cans, a few toddlers on the carrousel and a couple or two strolling along just like them. She chatters at him, remembering a sign here and there, telling him all about how when she was little she had a calendar to cross out the days until the big state fair came into town. How she would dream with caramel apples and bumper cars and how she once won 12 gold fish in one evening, which were gone by next morning except for one, who she called Robinson and who lived in a bowl by her bed for 4 years until he died. He signs for her to slow down a couple of times and she does for a sentence or two but then gathers speed again until he slows her down again. She tries not to get frustrated with this and without a Daphne shrine in her immediate vicinity she finds it a lot easier. "What should we do first? The Ferris wheel is off I think, maybe bumper cars? Or could we eat something… I am starving!". He nods and points at a hot dog cart just as her phone starts ringing in her bag. She takes it out and sees that it is her mom, she signs "mom" at him with an eye-roll and then picks up.

While she talks to her mother on the phone he checks his and sees that he has a couple of messages, both from Daphne. "Hey, you skipped lit, what's up? You sick?" and the second one "Toby thinks he saw you at Buckner, you with Bay again?". He sighs and types "yes, feeling sick, Toby is crazy". Then he deletes it and types "feeling fine, spending some time with Bay, she needed cheering up". Then deletes it again and types "not sick, not with Bay" and thinks before pressing send. She might see him when he drives her home, and then she will be mad at him for being with Bay AND for lying. So he deletes that last text again and just pops the phone back into his pocket.

It is getting dark when they have finally finished their hotdogs and candy floss, Emmett won her an ugly keychain at the can shooting and they rode the carrousel once and the bumper cars twice. Her face is aching from laughing so hard, it really has been the perfect afternoon.

Finally the Ferris wheel starts turning and he pulls her towards it. She always thought it was kind of corny to ride the wheel as a couple, kissing at the top like they do in every romantic comedy she has ever watched, but clearly he doesn't think so and she is secretly glad he doesn't. They get into the little compartment and he immediately pulls her close to kiss her and though she loves kissing him there is something bugging her now. She pushes him a little bit back and signs "Daphne… we have to talk to her… about you and me". He looks confused and signs and mouths "why? This is just between us, it has nothing to do with Daphne". She understands every word and they each hurt. "It does! She is your friend and my… I don't know, she has to know. She will get angry. At both of us, but she will forgive you and stay angry with me." Her eyes are tearing up a little bit, not so much at the idea of Daphne upset with her, but because Emmett not wanting to tell her clearly means this is not real to him, she was right, this is just some game.

He sees her, eyes glassy, biting her lip to stop herself from crying, and he just wants to make it all better. She is of course right, if he wants to continue doing this, he has to talk to Daphne, and it really should be him, since he started it all.

As one big beautiful tear runs over and rolls down her cheek, he reaches out with his left and catches it with his thumb, carefully wiping it away and signs with the other hand "Ok, I will talk to her. Tomorrow."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

He rides his bike into the patio, his stomach in knots. He couldn't really sleep well last night and this morning he tried to drum his nerves away but it didn't work. He doesn't want to do it, he doesn't want to tell Daphne that he is… well what is he doing with Bay? Is he dating her? He can hardly say "I am hanging out with, and kissing, Bay a lot", that would not go over so well with either girl he guesses.

He feels like if he says this, if he says "I am dating Bay" to Daphne then he will never get to be with her, then this idea of finally being loved back by her… it will just vanish, poof, be gone. A week ago he would never have done anything that could put his (imaginary and future) relationship with Daphne in danger. But not saying anything puts his relationship with Bay in danger… or even ends it. And he doesn't want that either.

Then again he thinks, maybe Daphne doesn't mind… after all she seems to be having some fun times with the most despicable hearing guys she could possibly find. She does seem to have a special knack for finding repellent guys lately, not just hearing guys, which would be bad enough, but actually gamblers and… well Bay's ex-boyfriends. So maybe she is fine with it, maybe she will just laugh it off, he kind of hopes, them remembers the last few times he mentioned Bay in conversation… him being friends or more with Bay seems to be a sore topic for her. Daphne asked him point blank if he was interested in Bay, if something was going on, and he said no (quite emphatically as well), though he wasn't being quite honest and now he really is between a rock and a hard place. If he could he would just ride his bike far far away from either girl, but he can't.

Bay is waiting for him to act and he doesn't want to let her down, the image of her big tearful eyes still very fresh in his memory. And Daphne is probably pretty pissed off about his lack of texting yesterday. Then again, maybe this is not the right time, both girls have had a really hard week, maybe he should tell Bay to wait for a few more days, so things can calm down… and he can make up his mind. No! He has to tell Daphne! But maybe not quite yet, just a few days. Yes, he should talk to Bay, or shouldn't he?

And then there is the whole hearing thing, he never truly believed that a hearing person could have a relationship with a deaf person and for it to work. Different worlds. So if this between him and Bay is not going to work anyway, why should he even tell Daphne? Why not end it right now and be done with it? The knots inside of him seem to get tighter and heavier as he thinks of confronting Bay, but that may be the only solution, because if he fucks things up between him and Daphne, just to have Bay freak out on him and stomp off again next time she can't understand him sign or he can't follow her 250 words a minute speeches, then what is the point? But he does really like her… so what should he do? Talk to Daphne… or end it with Bay?

He gets off his bike, puts the helmet down and walks a few steps towards the guest house, then turns around and walks to Bay's garage, knocks and enters.

She is sitting there, her back to the door, in front of her computer, big headphones covering her ears, watching intently at a lady signing on a little youtube video and imitating the signs as she says the words she is trying to sign: "sometimes… always… never. Sometimes… always… never". He doesn't dare to move in case she sees him, his determination wilting away and a smile spreading wider and wider on his face, as she clicks the next window and starts anew "yesterday… today… tomorrow. Yesterday…". The knots in his stomach start loosening up and moving around, turning into tiny little butterflies, as he watches this hearing girl work so hard for him. And he knows that he was wrong and he knows what he has to do, he turns around to go and tell Daphne.

She hears a noise behind her and turns around to see the garage door swinging shut. Taking her headphones off, she jumps to the door and opens it wide. She can see the back of Emmett as he is walking towards the guest house and she runs up to him, grabs his hand and drags him back into the garage, closing the door behind them.

"Hey you… did you watch me learn?" she asks and signs with a little smirk, a little bit embarrassed that he would have witnessed that, but also a little bit happy to be caught, that he got to see that she is trying hard for him, that she isn't slacking. His eyes seem full of tenderness, she thinks, as he leans down and just hugs her tight to him. The hug lasts a little bit longer than she expects and when he finally lets go she feels a little bit emotional and isn't quite sure why. He sits down in her comfy chair and pulls her down onto his knees, then he signs "I was going to talk to Daphne". She nods at him but instead of getting up to let him go she just settles herself more comfortably into his lap and says as usually signing the random words she knows "it can wait a few minutes" before she leans down and kisses him. He kisses back, first tenderly, then more and more fiercely, and soon one hand is in her hair. The other one creeps to the seam of her t-shirt, allowing just one finger to cross that barrier and stroking her lower back, then a second and finally his whole hand is at the small of her back, touching her skin and making her get tiny shivers up and down her spine.

He feels her shiver ever so slightly under his touch and grins into a kiss; the butterflies from before are doing a happy dance in his tummy and he can relax in her arms. This is great, he can't really understand what he was thinking before… ending this, not getting this moment together. They should never leave this garage, really. He has all but forgotten the reason of his early morning (hey, 11 am is REALLY early morning when you are a teenager) visit to the Kennish's when she suddenly sits up straight and stares at the door behind him with wide, fearful eyes. He thinks for a split second, please let it not be Daphne, then turns around.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Thank you so much for reading my story, I am glad you like it! I found this chapter very difficult to write and I am afraid it might be confusing at times. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.**

Chapter 4:

She suddenly sits up straight and stares at the door behind him with wide, fearful eyes; he thinks for a split second, please let it not be Daphne, then turns around and sees Toby standing in the garage door. His heart, pumping a thousand beats per minute, starts slowing down, thank goodness it wasn't her, he thinks although a teeny tiny bit of him is also a little disappointed. If Daphne walked in on them, at least he wouldn't have to go upstairs, sit in front of her and start the most awkward conversation of all times.

"Hey! Don't eat my drummer! He is the only one we've got!" Toby quips, grinning widely at the sight of the two of them. Bay looks at him, her stare angry: "Ha-ha you are so NOT funny… close the door, will you? What do you want?" Her brother has the annoying habit of walking in at the exact wrong moment every single time he can. He is still grinning, one eyebrow raised as he closes the door and walks into the garage, coming to a halt just in front of the chair in a way that doesn't allow for Bay to get up without bumping into the computer table. Bay sighs, knowing he is standing there on purpose, trying to embarrass her, to make her uncomfortable sitting on Emmett's lap and she slowly scoots back a little bit to put some distance between them, without standing up and giving Toby that satisfaction.

"I came to find you, there is a storm brewing in the kitchen" Toby says. "Regina is crying, Daphne is crying, dad is yelling… even the cookie squirrel is upset. I thought maybe you wanted to help me get Daphne out of there… go play miniature golf or something. But I see you are otherwise engaged… I didn't know you two were… wait, does SHE know?"

Bay tries to find an answer while Emmett taps her on the shoulder. "What happened? Is Daphne ok?" She shrugs and shakes her head, then turns back to Toby. "No, she doesn't, it is a bit of… a recent development. Emmett was going to talk to her, today… this morning. We will tell her." "Well, not to get involved or anything but honestly, maybe this morning is not the best moment. Dad… well, he has been yelling about suing Regina for the custody of Daphne."

"What?" Bay is confused, scared, surprised; she sits up taller and Emmett who has been trying to understand their conversation by reading lips grabs her hand. "He wants to what?"

He is trying so hard to follow the conversation, but the speed-talking seems to be nurture rather than nature, because Toby speaks just as quickly as Bay, his lips moving as if they were on fire. He is fairly certain that there was some talk about Daphne crying and possibly there is a squirrel involved. And cookies? Nothing makes sense. Then he reads "suing" and "custody" off Toby's lips and Bay suddenly sits up dead straight, hurting his knees. She looks surprised and upset and he grabs her hand, almost by default, trying to get her attention, to get some answers. When she turns to him he signs "What is going on?" She looks at him thinks for a few seconds and then slowly says and signs "my dad and Regina are fighting, we should take Daphne out… maybe to the mini-golf-course.".

Bay feels too many things to put them into words, or even coherent thoughts; they want Daphne's custody? What if they take her away from them for that? Can they have them both? What if they have to choose, would they choose her over Daphne? Daphne the perfect, Daphne the lovely, Daphne who looks like them and plays basketball and cooks? And if they keep them both, will they let her see Regina again? Does she want to see Regina again? A million similar thoughts flit through her mind but she pushes them away. She knows how she has been feeling for weeks now and she also knows that if it was her, sitting there hearing (or in Daphne's case seeing) the strange mess of parents fight over her in front of her, she would want someone to come and take her away. So the main priority should be to try and not be selfish right now and even though she doesn't have a particular soft spot for her, they really have to get Daphne out. But how, without it looking highly suspicious, with Emmett there? As if he could read her mind Emmett seems to come up with a solution; he signs slowly "you go and get her, I stay with Toby… we say he called me, because Daphne was sad, ok?" Toby looks at Bay and raises his brows: "What did he say?" She interprets for him, she doesn't know every sign but the meaning came across all the same, and Toby looks impressed at Emmett. "For someone who has problems with people lying and cheating, you sure came up with that lie fast, huh?" Bay gives him a small kick in the shin and pushes him away to get up.

He stands up too, he didn't quite get what Toby said there at the end, he keeps obscuring his lips by putting his hand in front of his face, but it wasn't nice, so much was crystal clear. He doesn't really like Toby, spoiled rich brat that he is, thinking everyone has just been born into the world to help him or to be used by him, but it looks like they will be spending the day together, so he'd better start breathing deeply and counting backwards from ten. He really would have talked to Daphne about Bay he tells himself, but if she is already upset, then this will just be salt in her wounds and he is pretty sure that Bay agrees. He would like a minute with Bay alone though, so he looks at Toby and then points to the door, sticks one finger up and thinks, come on dude, get a clue. Toby raises his eyebrows for the umpteenth time in the past 10 minutes and leaves. He pulls Bay close and signs "I talk to Daphne, tomorrow." He crosses his heart as he promises. She nods and kisses him quickly, quietly, on the lips. Then she leaves the garage and he doesn't know if he should feel this relieved that the big scary conversation won't be happening today. An afternoon not only with Toby but with Bay and Daphne in his current situation could be quite the torture.

She enters the house and while she tiptoes up the stairs in her socks, sneakers in hand, she hears her father thundering on and on in the kitchen. Once upstairs she puts the sneakers back on and tramples back down, as loudly as possible, this being her alibi. She was never outside, she just got up! In the kitchen her father walks up and down between the kitchen counter and the working surface yelling, with Regina, her face tearstained and dark shadows under her eyes, on one of the stools, and Daphne, not in tears but definitely not happy either, at the other end of the counter. Her mother doesn't seem to know what to do, standing behind Daphne, one hand on her shoulder and a piece of tissue in her other hand. Bay stomps in and determinedly grabs Daphne's hand, pulls her off her stool and towards the door. "That she can't hear you, doesn't mean she has to witness this!" she angrily barks at her father and then walks out, Daphne in tow.

"What are you doing?" Daphne asks harshly and Bay feels hot bubbles of anger rising in her belly. She was not expecting such an ungrateful reaction, when she was trying to put Daphne first and she wants to yell at her "I am saving you, you idiot!". But instead she clenches her hands into fists and then swallows the anger and explains "Toby and I thought it would be better not to be here while they are fighting… how about doing something cool?" Daphne looks at her, her head cocked bemusedly, and she realizes she has signed "fighting" and "cool" without even thinking. "What cool thing were you thinking?" Bay is about to explain when they see Toby approaching, Emmett in tow, and he says "How about miniature golf? I will totally wipe you out! You will feel sorry you were born!"

Emmett looks at Daphne, she looks sad but isn't crying, he certainly had enough crying girls for a lifetime lately, and she gives him the evil eye, then quickly signs without speaking or vocalizing so as to make it impossible for Bay and Toby to understand "What are you doing here? I thought maybe you had died or something, since you vanished from school halfway through classes and I never heard from you." He signs an apology "I had some stuff to do, you know, with the bike and forgot to check my phone. And I am here because Toby thought you needed some moral support… when he wipes you out in golf". She rolls her eyes at him and he can see she is already ¾ of the way to forgiveness. Best friends… that is why they rock. He sees Bay watch him look at Daphne and when she turns to thank Toby for supposedly calling him, he quickly gives her smile and a wink that makes her smile back. Ah, this girl business sure feels like juggling with 8 balls sometimes.

Toby gets his car out and he waits to see if Daphne calls shotgun and when she resolutely walks to the front door he is relieved; this way she won't be able to sign to him all the way there and try to get more details about yesterday's faux mystery bike errand. He sits down next to Bay and she immediately starts staring out of her window, lost in thoughts. Daphne and Toby are talking in the front and he very slowly lets his hand slide across the seat inch by inch until his pinky touches Bay's and after a little while he sees a lazy smile appearing on her face.

She looks out of the window and her thoughts start running amuck again, what will happen with Regina, with Angelo, will she ever meet him at all? Will Regina have to leave and be left with nobody, she is still mad but she also doesn't want to lose her forever. Then again she doesn't want to go and live in east Riverside with her either. She didn't want me back then, she can't have me now, Bay thinks and clenches her jaw.

She sees one of the pink dress girls fly by her window, that is the one she did on the night after they had all of their bloods drawn for the paternity and maternity testing at the hospital. She was so scared of what would happen once the results were back on that night, which is why pink dress girl is not in her usual fowl mood and about to hack or hammer something to pieces, but dragging her big hammer behind her, like the cross she has to bear. Suddenly she feels something warm by her hand and out of the corner of her eye she sees that Emmett is stroking her pinky with his.

She wanted to tell him about pink dress girl the other day when Daphne kept interrupting with her texts and she still wants him to know that they are hers, so now she comes up with a better idea. She will take him to see them, every one of the girls, tomorrow night, a pink dress tour so to speak, and tell him what each means to her. There is no better way to know an artist than through her art and he will know he, really know her. She smiles and softly gives his pinky a little hug with hers.


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: thank you for all your reviews I enjoy them immensely. Now 1x09 aired and I find it difficult to disregard what happens in the actual episodes, so we will just have to stretch our imagination and think that 1x09 happened after chapter 4 and before chapter 5, even though a few things don't quite match up._

Chapter 5:

That night she decides not to say anything to anyone. Because maybe, hopefully, he does like her in a different way than he likes Daphne. He says he does, he has now reiterated several times that Daphne is just a friend, that he has no… "romantic" feelings for her. Would he still feel that way if he knew that Daphne does have them? She doesn't know, but she is not going to find out right now. Because it is none of her business. She will have to wait and see, have Daphne talk to him and see if he… well, if he says he is with her and that Daphne is too late well, that is the best case scenario. Just in case though she will prepare herself for the opposite, of him being all "yes, finally, hey you, what's your name again, hearing girl, was a nice few weeks, have a good life, bye now". In the end it will be Emmett's decision and it is not her business to convince him of how great she is… he knows that. And she can't tell Daphne not to say anything, because it is not her right. And Daphne would not care anyway. Emmett "belongs" to her world, like Liam belonged to Bay's world and she ended up taking herself out of that ballgame, she would expect Bay to do so too. She is not going to do that, she is not going to leave before Emmett asks her to. And he won't, right? He gave her the best birthday present ever (the blindfold could have gone two ways, kinky sex or a visual surprise and she is kind of glad that they still have kinky sex for when she turns 17). But she can't fall asleep, she tosses and turns and feels sick to her stomach. He won't, she tells herself, he won't want Daphne, he won't, he won't, he won't. But in the back of her mind she sees the shrine, and the 150 mile drive to the Deafenstein convention thing. And that look while he played the drums. He won't, right?

He gets up with the biggest smile on his face, thinking back to the way she looked when she saw the billboard, the way she hugged him, the way she kissed him thank you and goodbye. More than once each. She is pretty amazing, that girl, he thinks, his mother may not get it, but she is something special. Her girls in pink dresses, they are fantastic, of course it is an extreme sport in a way, he remembers, as the soap from his shower makes the wound on his abdomen sting like has left early as usual and his coffee is served with a note pinned under it: "Don't do anything stupid or resulting in blood loss today! XO Mom" He rolls his eyes and grins, she may be a pain in the neck, but she is one funny woman. He feels an all too well known feeling in his front pocket, grabs his phone and sees the text message "Just drove past the b-day girl, can't believe she is there for every1 to c! c u after school?" Hell, yes, he thinks, then remembers there is the Carlton pep rally that afternoon and he has never missed one, what with Daphne on the basketball team. Bay can come to it though, it will be fun. She can meet his friends, see his school. "Pep rally at school at 4. Wanna come? B my date and cheer for D!" He waits for her response, why is it taking so long? She sure is taking her sweet time to decide if she wants to come to a stupid pep rally. "Didn't talk to D yet, prob. uncomfortable, maybe another day?". Shoot, he forgot about that tiny little detail, maybe she could just come as a friend and they could make out behind the bleachers? Or maybe he should talk to Daphne before she catches them behind the bleachers. "Will talk to her today, let you know if pep rally ok after. Have a good day, b-day girl"

She looks at his last text… ah so cute. Doubts cloud her mind though… is he this cute with Daphne as well? She really needs to stop doing this. She is pretty happy in her decision not to do anything, so why torture herself? But she really can't help it. Well, if he talks to her today she will have an answer before 4 pm, either she still has a beautiful boyfriend who has then proved that he really likes her, that this is important to him, or she has lost yet another person to Daphne. For one sweet 16 year old girl she sure is a people Hoover, sucking them all away from her. She really likes Daphne is the worst part of it though. She is the only one who can understand, to a certain degree, what Bay is going through and she IS sweet. And nice. And it is not her fault that people adore her. She looks at her watch, 8:15 am… so in 7 hours and 45 minutes at the very latest she will know. Her heart starts to race and her stomach flips. He won't, he won't, he won't, she keeps chanting inwardly to try to calm herself. He won't, right?

He sees Daphne standing by his locker smiling at him as he arrives (late as usual) and she signs: "I need to talk to you, at lunch?" almost at the same time as he signs "Can we talk at lunch?" then they both start laughing nervously. She nods "It's a date" and he adds "a lunch date" to which she rolls her eyes and darts off. She somehow always makes it to class in time yet he always manages to be at least 5 minutes late, how is that possible he wonders, as he leisurely takes out a book, then another from his locker, checks his phone again, puts the first book back, ties his sneakers and strolls to the classroom. It is uncanny how she does it. As lunchtime creeps closer he starts getting nervous, she said she needed to talk to him as well, what could that be about? He saw her less than 12 hours ago, not that much could have changed. Did she sleep with Wilke again? That guys is such a loser with his ugly ass Backstreet Boy 90ies hair cut and his underground poker games. How could Daphne want to sleep with that?

He gets a sandwich and a juice box from the cafeteria but he doesn't feel like eating. How is he going to phrase it? "Hey you know Bay, who I said I was not interested in? Turns out I am, I am actually dating her!" Ok, maybe not this way. Daphne finally joins him, sits down in front of him and smiles a radiant smile. "Do you go first or I go?" she asks. He is pretty sure after his bombshell news she won't want to tell him whatever it is she was going to… and maybe he wants to really put it off as far as possible so he signs "ladies first". She blushes slightly, looks down, then back up into his face, her eyes wide and signs "I had an epiphany yesterday. I think I like you." He is confused, an epiphany would be her realizing after 8 years of best friendship that she doesn't like him, so he signs impatiently "I like you too. So what is the epiphany?". She shakes her head "not like a friend… like more than a friend". He stares at her, dumbfounded, flabbergasted even. She wants to be more than friends? Now? His perfect girl, the one on his wall a hundred times over, the girl he always imagined he would end up with. She looks at him and signs "say something!", then when he is still speechless, when he is still brainstorming the idea of this, she scoots over to him, puts a hand to his chin, turns his face to hers and kisses him softly.

She checks her phone for the umpteenth time this morning. Nothing. She has test texted herself from Simone's phone just to make sure it works. It does. Why does he not text then? She can't text him, because she is not sure she wants to know what he has to say. Is she single already? No he won't do that to her, he won't break up with her to be with Daphne. He won't, he won't, he won't. He won't, right?


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

It takes him a couple of seconds to realize what is happening, his body, his mouth, acting by default, kissing back, and how it just doesn't feel right. He pushes Daphne back softly and the look in her face breaks his heart a little bit. She feels awfully rejected and it is blatant, her eyes cast downward, her cheeks blushing furiously. Just a few months ago he would have done anything to be in this situation, to have Daphne kiss him and want him. But that was before. Now there is a girl, probably waiting anxiously, phone in hand, spending her mornings learning to sign for him, making him smile with her love for art. He signs "I am sorry" for a prolonged time, until she lifts her eyes and sees him. She blinks a few times too many, then signs slowly "It's ok… you don't have to feel the way I… I just thought you maybe did." He is pretty much lost for words but her embarrassed face is making him physically ache "I love you Daphne. As a friend. But I am with someone and I really like her." Daphne looks at him, confused at first, then suspecting, her eyes growing bigger by degrees as she puts images together. He knows she is seeing it all slowly, them signing "love" in the garage, the sudden miraculous advance in Bay's signing skills, the pictures on his table, and he knows that when he signs her name-sign, the wavy lock sign that is Bay, she might explode. He knows the wrath of Daphne, it comes out seldom, but when it does it is all encompassing, kind of like a twister. It doesn't care if it takes cars and cows, doesn't care of it tears houses down, while it unloads its power unto the lands and it only stops when it feels like it. And yet he has to. He signs "Bay" and closes his eyes for a second, just to shut her out for a moment before the drama unfolds. When he reopens them Daphne is still staring at him, anger glinting in her eyes, making her look wild. "OK" she signs, gets up and leaves the table.

She is hiding in the library, it took her a little while to find it, this room teachers talk about, yet she had never perused but she doesn't feel like bio at all and if the Text (capital T for importance obviously) arrives as she is dissecting whatever gross animal the teacher come up with this week (last week it was fish!), she might just throw up. So she is sitting behind a bookshelf by the Greek mythology section (they have a whole section for this?) painting in her mind. Her Ipod has an Adele playlist all ready, meant for Ty-pining, but it will work for Emmett-pining as well. Nothing screams broken heart like a black on black picture and "Someone like you". Suddenly she is taken out of her daydream by the feeling of her phone vibrating in her hand. She hadn't let go of it almost all day, now she turns it around, takes a deep breath and reads "Talking to D was complicated. She is really mad, not talking 2 me. Def. don't come to pep rally. Come over to mine at 8?". She rereads it 12 times and tries to figure out what happened. How was it complicated? If she is mad enough not to talk to him at least they aren't a happy couple yet, even if Daphne fessed up about her crush. But the last 2 sentences make her wonder if he isn't maybe going to break up with her in person. Ah… could he not have written something less cryptic? Now she will be on edge for another 6 hours. This can't be good for her mind and soul. She would go home, play sick, but then her mom is not going to let her go to his place that evening. So instead she stays in the library, picks up a book about Prometheus, leafs through it and then decides to play snake on her phone.

He tries to get Daphne's attention several times over the course of the afternoon but she ignores him, turns away. To be honest he has no clue what he could say to make her feel better, but he can't really take the silent treatment. He'd rather she would yell at him, but to see her walking around with all that pent up anger inside of her, she is making him feel like the bad guy, when really he has done nothing wrong. He IS sorry about the bad timing, but right now he can't imagine going out with Daphne, the way he had no problems picturing it just a few short weeks ago. Kind of like when you go to the supermarket and you are so hungry and you buy a big cream filled donut you can't wait to eat, but then go home and you find some delicious pizza, you get to eat a lot of it until you are nearly bursting and kind of nauseated, but in a good way and suddenly you can't imagine wanting that donut, even though it was your dream food until recently. What a terrible metaphor he thinks, maybe it is his stomach thinking, then goes and buys a donut from the cafeteria in between classes, the sandwich he bought at lunchtime hanging out with a lot of trash in the depth of a can. Eating the donut doesn't make his guilt any less though. Last period he shares with Daphne, but she doesn't show up. Could she have felt so mad that she went home sick? He texts "Where R U?" then deletes it. Give her some space, he thinks. But he still feels awfully guilty. How do they do that, girls? You feel bad when they don't like you and terrible when they do!

Still quite a bit on edge Bay leaves Buckner Hall after her last class, planning to maybe have a good long rest in front of her billboard, to calm her nerves, when she reaches her car there is someone sitting in the passenger seat though (ah, the joys of a car without a roof). Someone redhaired and looking remarkably like her mother. She circles the car, opens the door, sits down in the driver's seat and looks at Daphne. "What are you doing here? In my car?" she asks bemusedly but loses her half-smile the instant Daphne turns to look at her. She looks rabid, unlike Bay has ever seen her (but she knows that look, it is uncannily identical to the way her father looked that time she took his car for a spin aged 13). Mad you wrote, Emmett? No kidding! "You lied to me! And you pretended everything was normal! And you knew I was into him and you said nothing!" Bay looks down and signs "sorry", she is about to try to explain, why they decided not to tell her, why it was never the right time but before she even gets to open her mouth, Daphne continues. "I broke up with Liam, put the family first, put your feelings first. Now I want the same from you. Put my feelings first. Stop seeing Emmett!" The first thought through Bay's mind is, so I am still seeing him. The second one is, that is not fair. "Liam was an ex boyfriend, Emmett is not your ex… and I apologized for that, you didn't have to do it, you could have gotten him back!" she protests. "Liam was just an ex, Emmett is my best friend and you know how I feel about him. Break up with him." Daphne retorts. Bay shakes her head, she can't do that. Emmett is the one good thing going on in her life right now. "I am sorry Daphne, I just can't." She feels terrible, Daphne is right, she did put Bay and the family first with Liam, but Bay is no golden perfect child like Daphne. And she feels pretty damn lost and lonely lately, he makes that better, he gets her, he likes her and he seems to have chosen her over Daphne, which nobody else has done. Daphne hits the dashboard with her fist, looks Bay in the eye and says "You owe me this." then gets out of the car. Bay feels like crap; guilty, childish, upset. If this is what having a sister feels like, she really wishes she didn't get the experience. She drives her car to her billboard and sits there for hours thinking. Her phone vibrates twice, once a message from her mother (she is officially at Simone's), once from Toby (he saw Simone at school going to band practice after school, she should come up with a better lie next time). None from Daphne telling her she rethought it all and she should just be happy. None from Emmett asking her to elope and live happily ever after in Arkansas. Life sucks.


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you so much everyone for your reviews, they really warm my heart (or make it grow three sizes, grinchlike). It is a huge pleasure to write for such an enthusiastic and encouraging crowd.

Chapter 7:

He sits next to Jackson, watching the cheerleaders dance to the beat. It makes his chest vibrate and his feet move. For a hearing person this might be overwhelmingly loud, he thinks and pictures Bay cringing as she works hard on not putting her hands over her ears thinking it could be offending. He never really thought about hearing people much, always surrounded by people from the Deaf community, unlike some kids who grew up with hearing parents or siblings. And talking of hearing parents and siblings, Daphne is back, she ignored him when she walked in and he waved. Now she is standing with the team, looking rather grim, not at all the smiley friendly girl she usually is. The anger is still there, escaping through her eyes, visible through her clenched jaw line, through her slightly too upright posture. What did she do during last period? Jenna is also on the team and she was in class, so it wasn't a team meeting. Where could she have gone? He lifts his hands imitating the crowd and shakes them in their toneless applause as the sports teams walk into the centre of the gym. This was only fun when Daphne would do silly dance moves for him, without that pep rallies are a drag.

She stares at the billboard, at her cut up hands, they feel tender and pulsate in an achy manner whenever she thinks about them. And she thinks of the way he looked when she saw the billboard, of the way he blew on her bleeding hands when they sat down in the car, carefully but with a smile in his eyes. He is the sweetest guy she has known, Liam was fun and cute and a football player… people looked at her differently when she was hanging out with him. Her first real boyfriend. Ty was… well older and mysterious and cute and made her parents want to rip their hair out which was pretty awesome. But Emmett is interesting and a challenge and sweet. And he likes art. She looks up at the billboard; and he would do THAT for her. Then her gaze falls back onto her hands, at the crusts forming over the many little holes and she remembers another time her hands were cut up.

She was 7 or 8 and still learning to tie her shoelaces (she could never remember what the hell to do with the lace once she had formed both bunny ears, was it over or was it under? It made no sense), whining to her mom daily that there was no reason for laces when Velcro worked so well. She had just been asked to play an native American girl in the thanksgiving play with the two girls who had come to Kansas from Guatemala and a few kids from school were making fun of her, shouting "You're adopted, you're adopted!" She got so mad that she started seeing red and so she ran, fists raised and hit the smallest of the bunch, Clover, on the head, knocking her over. The other kids started chasing her and she ran faster and faster, trying to get away and just as she was getting to the far end of the school grounds she stepped on a shoelace and went flying. Nothing major happened, her hands got badly scraped, as did her chin, and when the other kids saw her bleeding and crying they ran off. She cried alone probably for about 5 minutes (though it felt like an hour) until her mom spotted her and picked her up, dried her tears and cleaned her hands and chin. And she remembers a story she heard recently of another little girl being tortured by her classmates. A little girl who could not come back with a retort the next day and have everyone laugh and like her again. A little girl who finally found a friend and a way to express herself. A little girl who could have been her. And who was now asking for something that was hugely important to her. Bay sighs. There is no doubt, she will do the right thing. Because after all, this could have been her asking.

His mom left for her girls' night with Regina, movie and dinner or something, and he is glad she is, because he knows she would not have been happy to see Bay coming over. Pigheaded woman she is. He looks at his watch and sees that it is 20 past 8. She should be here any moment now. The whole day has been a mess, he can't wait for her to be here and just to relax, make out maybe, look at some more photos. He took about 70 photos at the golf course the other day, really funny ones. He framed his favorite picture, Bay half smiling as she watches her brother and Daphne play, the light making her eyes look like liquid honey on a spoon, her hand in her hair, brushing it back casually. He loves it, because that is what she looks like when she thinks she is not being observed, fully relaxed, happy even, something she is not all that often.

The light blinks in his room and he goes to open the door, the girl at the door could not look more different from the picture he was just looking at. Her eyes dark and cloudy, her hair tied back severely, tension everywhere from her hands to her brows. "Hey" she says and he ushers her in, she walks swiftly to his room. "What's wrong?" he asks as soon as they are in his room and she has turned to look at him. She talks as if it was a race, her lips moving faster than the wings of a hummingbird, he doesn't get it. She signs very few words, Daphne and school and car and he stops her. "I am sorry, I don't understand anything…" confused look… damn she doesn't know the sign anything… which one does she… oh ok "Nothing! I understand nothing!" She looks around his room and sees his phone, grabs it and starts typing away, after a few minutes, she hands it over. He reads it, twice. Daphne wants them to break up. He shakes his head. Daphne didn't say a word to him, literally, he understands where she is coming from but it is none of her business, she has no right to ask them to and both him and Bay have had a really hard time lately as well, she didn't break up with Liam when he disliked him, she maddens him. He childishly writes "I don't want to break up" and hands the phone back. Bay smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes. He pulls her closer and starts kissing her, he will give her something to make her properly smile.

He is not making this any easier, she thinks as she sighs into his kiss, but he sure is making it all better. Her resolve is waning fast. Oh well, a few hours more or less won't change anything she reckons, they can talk this out later, and lets him pull her flat onto the bed, lets his hands wander over her t shirt, into her hair, loosening it, taking the elastic out. The tension from the day is slowly leaving her body, she didn't even realize how tense she had been until his lips wander down her neck and she unclenches what feels like her entire body for the first time in 12 (or maybe even 24) hours. She puts her hands inside his t shirt, touches his skin, warm and dry and peachy like a baby's bottom, finds the wound on his tummy and puts her hands over it, her scabs matching his. Right now this is all that matters she thinks and kick off her boots, settling more comfortably into his arms. This goes on for quite a while until his tummy rumbles so loudly she hears it. Cracking up she asks sarcastically "are you hungry?". He grins sheepishly and nods, so they go to the kitchen, make sandwiches, eat in silence. Their legs are entwined like a grapevine, hands touching on the table, afraid that if they ever let any space come between them, then this spell will be broken, then reality will be back and they will have to face the fact that their best friend and "sister" can't live with them being together. They hold hands as they go back into his room and she sees the framed picture, she looks at it for a few seconds, admires how he caught it in just the right light, wonders how often he looks at her when she is not looking, before turning to him and kissing him again, twice as forcefully. They end up sitting in his bed, wrapped up in his sheets, facing each other in the low light of his little bedside lamp, talking. He tells her that Daphne kissed him and although she initially feels the tension of the day rush back into her body mixed with jealousy and with a pinch of anger stirred in, he is fast (and emphatic) explaining how he didn't feel anything, how it only made him wish it was her, how he stopped it immediately and told her how he feels about Bay and the honesty in his face makes her relax again, almost involuntarily. And she tells him about Daphne sharing with her the incident when she was being bullied and how important that friendship is for her, tells him how Daphne has put her feelings, or the strange family unit they form, first. And how important that unit has become for her, despite the drama, despite the jealousy. And they don't have to say it but she knows they agree, that right now is not the time, that they can't hurt her, can't risk destroying a family that is pretty fragile as it is. He smiles at her sadly and when she looks at the time, sees it is midnight and gets up to leave he signs "please stay. Just tonight." And she can't say she wasn't kind of, maybe, hoping he would say that, delaying the goodbye for another few hours. She takes off her jeans, a little embarrassed that this will be the first time he'll see her in her underwear, but forgetting all about it as she turns to see him take off his jeans and t shirt. She blushes furiously when he looks up and sees her watching him, then he lifts his eyebrows and grins, hops into the bed and signs for her to join him. She lies down, pecks him on the lips, then turns around and he wraps his body around her, like a warm human cocoon keeping her safe tonight.

He smells her shampoo, feels her warm legs against his, thanks his lucky gods that he is too tired and sad to get really… excited by her soft skin, by the curve of her bottom against him.

He understands why she needs to end it, he is torn, of course he wants to salvage his friendship with Daphne and he appreciates that she asked Bay to end it rather than him, though he also thinks that she had a better case with Bay and he is pretty positive that may have been the reason rather than her wanting to do Emmett any favors. But he would have liked to get both, have the cake and eat it too… have Daphne in his life and keep Bay. Keep her right where she is right now for example. And he knows that having her stay the night is stupid but the alternative, letting her drive away knowing that he would not have her this close again, was not really attractive. Carpe diem. Or rather noctem. So tomorrow he won't have her to talk to, he won't need that speech therapy after all, his mom will be happy (oh how this angers him, how is the woman always right?). And maybe, hopefully Daphne will slowly find her way back to being his best friend, maybe just the cake will have to do. He kisses the back of Bay's head silently, she might be asleep already, and feels the tiredness wash over him like a wave, dragging him under, his lids too heavy to lift them.

Melody does this most nights, but nobody knows, not her ex-husband and especially not her son. He is a big boy and she isn't supposed to anymore, but he will never be too old for her to check on him. The evening went a lot later than planned, Regina had a lot she needed to talk about and they ended up on her couch talking for hours, now it is nearly 2 and she will get 4 and a half hours of sleep if she is lucky. She opens the door slowly, tiptoes into the room afraid that if she treads heavily he will feel the vibration and wake up. She smiles a big smile as she sees his naked back poking out of the covers, that beautiful boy of hers, but her smile freezes when she realizes that he is not alone, that the pattern on his arm isn't the shadow from the curtains but rather a couple of long dark curls. Curls she recognizes. She backs out of the room feeling a million things at once; angry, sad, disappointed. She is definitely not getting 4 and a half hours of sleep tonight.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Thank you once again for all your encouraging words, for the favouritising my story and me as an author. This is my first go at fanfiction and it has been an awesome ride… I may just be hooked forever. So 1x10 aired but I don't feel like my story will manage to bend itself into that shape, so I am going off on a complete tangent now. I hope you enjoy the alternative version I present.

Chapter 8:

He wakes because he feels something move on his arm, tickling him, and when he opens his eyes and looks down, sees long dark hair there, he is confused for a split second. Then he remembers, Bay is there in his arms, in the exact same position that they were in when they fell asleep, her body curled inside of his, forming a C, warm and soft. He immediately notices that something in him has awoken as well and adjusts his body, jutting his bottom away from her in the hope that she won't notice the embarrassing morning excitement in his boxers. She turns around and looks at him, eyes half open, smiling the lazy smile of someone who just had a really nice, relaxing sleep and he can't stop himself from reaching forward, touching her hair and putting his lips over hers. His hand wanders into her t shirt, settles on her tummy, grazing her skin softly with his thumb but he sees her face change and she pushes his hand away, shakes her head. "No. Sorry, it just will be too hard… sorry." she signs and says, and he knows she is right, but that doesn't make it easier, he just wants to put his covers over them, build a tent, like back when he was little and needed to hide from his parents fighting, somewhere to hide away from the world. But he is not little anymore and the covers are not impenetrable like he used to think, so he nods and rolls himself out of bed.

Melody is so angry, she slept for a couple of hours and woke up even more angry and she knows this is irrational behavior but she needs to vent and to blame someone and she can't stay at home, face the teen lovers, so she rings the doorbell again and again and again, not caring that it is freaking 6:30 in the morning. When Regina opens the door, rubbing sleep out of her eyes, she just rushes inside without waiting for a "good morning", an "what on earth are you doing here at this time" or an invitation in. She starts signing furiously and Regina asks her to slow down. "Your daughter and my son, she spent the night, they were in his bed, naked! This is not ok, you can't allow that!" she signs and Regina looks confused, shakes her head. "My daughter slept here, I saw her before she went to bed!" she signs back and then looks towards Daphne's door, and they both see her there, openmouthed and incredulous, staring at Melody. "You OTHER daughter!" Melody signs and Daphne slams the door so hard Melody feels it vibrate in her chest. Regina stares from the door to Melody and back to the door. "I didn't even know Bay and Emmett were dating" she explains. "And they are big kids… they are old enough to make these decisions themselves." Melody used to share this sentiment and she feels that she might not have been as angry if she had caught Daphne curled into Emmett's arms, but she tells herself that it is her little boy doing grown up stuff that gets her and not that his partner in crime is hearing. "And now, I am sorry Melody but I have to go and talk to Daphne. You are welcome to have coffee… or something." Melody shakes her head determinedly and apologizes halfheartedly, then leaves, drives through the city and ends up with a couple of giant starbucks cups at her ex husbands' new apartment. He has to talk to Emmett about this.

She puts the red toothbrush down and runs her tongue over teeth, enjoying the clean smooth feeling, ties her hair back and tells her mirror image "It's ok. She would do this for you. You do this for her. It makes sense. Don't fuck up the family more than it already is. This is what a mature good person does. Be good and mature!" Feeling a lot happier with herself after her little self-peptalk she exits the bathroom and sees that Emmett has got dressed without showering (just like herself) and he looks a bit confused. "My mom is not here." he signs clearly wondering why she would not be home at 6:45 am and she is a little bit relieved, his mom is a scary woman who clearly disapproves of Bay and refuses to speak orally in her presence, so not having to face her this morning after having slept cuddled up to her son is really the best case scenario for everyone. It is really early but maybe she had something to do. She takes the coffee cup he is drinking from and takes a sip of it, it is bitter and really strong. He grins at her eyes opening with shock. "One sip of this will keep me awake for a week!" she tells him "I will go now, I need to go home, get new clothes and a library book." He nods and loses the smile immediately. Why is this so hard? He could really try not to look as much like a kicked puppy. She grabs her bag, puts on her shoes all while he stares at her, those blue eyes the size of dinner dishes, his brow furrowed. She has decided not to cry, this will be dignified, so she walks to the door where he meets her and envelopes her in a hug. Biting her lip hard to keep the tears in check she hugs him back, then when he lets her go she touches his cheek briefly. "You are awesome." she signs, and smiles for him, turning around and quickly going to her car, hoping the tears will stay in until she has left the driveway. She sees him in the rearview mirror, standing near the door in his driveway barefoot and she is pretty sure she didn't see right, because he can't possibly be wiping tears away himself.

Toby sees her do the walk of shame back into the house through his window and goes to wait for her in her room. "Hey sissy" he says once she is inside, and she closes the door quickly. "What are you doing in here?" "Hey, hey, I am here to give you the heads up. I told mom and dad that you were sleeping at Simone's, that you had called while they were out and told me, but I am not going to cover your ass if you don't do a better job at it yourself!" "What do you mean?" she is confused. He lifts his eyebrows till they nearly touch his hairline. "I am fairly sure that a certain deaf mom may have seen you guys, because her car woke me at 6:30 and I may have heard Regina say something about her daughter sleeping here. Her voice really carries well in the early morning." Bay's eyes threaten to pop out of her head. "She went and told Regina? And we aren't little kids anymore. I can sleep with him if I want to!" Toby shrugs "Look, if you are being… ehem… "safe" I don't care what you do with whom. But I don't want to be stuck in the middle. Don't wanna look like a liar. And that woman, Emmett's mom, she is going to kick your ass. I just wanted you to know. Be prepared!" He is leaving the room when she says in a tiny voice "We broke up, this was a … goodbye thing. Not that it is any of your business." He turns around and sees her break into tears and he can't not walk back and give her a hug. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." he whispers into her shoulder as she finally lets it all out.

She has cried herself out, washed her face, changed into clean clothes and now is having a glass of juice, when she sees Daphne walk past the door, not exactly looking her cheerful self this morning either. She gets up, rushes outside to tell her, to let her know that it is over, that she did the right thing but Daphne sees her and starts almost running. She hurries up, grabs her by the arm. "What is wrong with you?" she signs and then backs up a little, afraid Daphne may spit in her face. "You slept with him! I asked you to break up and you went and slept with him?" she barks and Bay wonders how fast news really travel. Especially when news are about sex. And she regrets that a few weeks ago she led Daphne to believe (not in quite as many words) that she was sexing it up with Liam, because there is no way in hell that Daphne will believe her if she says they didn't do anything last night. And really, she shouldn't have to, she broke up with him. For her. What she did or didn't do while with him has nothing to do with her. The anger in her tells her to scream at Daphne that yes, she had awesome sex with him and to go and screw herself. But she tries to swallow it, fast, because things are spinning out of control and this is why she ended it, right? So things with Daphne would be ok. "We broke up, just like you wanted. Ask him if you don't believe me." she barks back. "and you are welcome!"

Daphne doesn't know what to believe, she has never felt so conflicted in her life and she doesn't want to go and ask Emmett, but then she doesn't even get the chance to, as he doesn't show up at his locker before class and she doesn't see him in class either. They would not have second and third period together, so she doesn't see him there and her anger has definitely cooled down considerably when she does meet him between third and fourth. He looks pretty pensive, a little sad even, but forces a smile when he sees her and she doesn't even have to ask, as he comes volunteering the information. "Bay broke up with me." he says and she wonders about the way he words it, not "we broke up" like Bay said, but rather "she broke up with me". She doesn't want to say anything but it kind of comes out like verbal diarrhea. "She slept at yours? You slept WITH her?" He looks at her, his brow furrowing and she can see him getting angry by degrees. "That is none of your business. Y And you don't get to judge me. Or her… you disgust me! You wanted us apart, now be happy." And he rushes off, shaking his head, leaving her feeling in pain and numb at the same time inside. Tears shoot into her eyes, things are so unfair. She just wanted fairness, she just wanted everything to go back to where things made sense, where she wasn't so lonely, where it didn't hurt to think about Emmett or Bay. Did she do it all wrong? Now everyone is upset and sad and everyone is blaming it on her. Did she make a proper friendship… sisterhood even, with Bay impossible? And worst of all, did she just lose her best friend?


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

It has been 3 weeks and he is still doing the heartbroken teenage sulk. If now they have been apart the same amount of time they were together, why does it feel so much longer? He is still sad and angry, locks himself away when he comes home from school. The days immediately afterwards had been very odd, his mother freaked out about Bay sleeping over, she had been signing furiously every time she could catch him and she would keep going on and on about it, she even made his father come over and give him the mother of all sex talks, that had them both blushing even hours after it all happened. In fact he hasn't seen his father since, he might be hiding away, unable to ever face him again. No wonder. He looks at the photo that used to be framed, he took it out of the frame and stuck it into his bedside table drawer, pulls it out when he is alone and feels like being melodramatic or just like seeing her. He is such a cliché, he realizes, not for the first time, but so what? He has sent her two messages in the first week, one said "I miss you" and one "Wish you were here" and both times she replied within the hour saying "Don't make this harder." And both times he received a second message later that evening saying "P/s: miss U 2". Things with Daphne suck too, he tried to hang out with her but truth is he keeps blaming her and can't really do the friend thing right now. She behaves around him like she is walking on eggshells, tries to be there for him, cheer him up, but he has been avoiding her. He is now eating lunch with the guys and coming home straight from school or spending the afternoons at Jackson's house, and the hours they used to spend in the library or the little garden area he has filled with speech therapy. Partly because he is just being contrary, to piss off his mom, partly because he is still trying for her, even though she won't know.

He has band practice a couple of times a week at the Kennish house, but Bay makes sure never to be there when he is, which is probably good but still a letdown every time. Toby has been sympathetic, pats him on the back when he sees him look around, shaking his head. He is not proud to admit even to himself that he has driven to her school a couple of times, watched her from afar as she laughed with her school friends and even followed her, saw that she parked herself in front of her billboard and it hurt, but somehow in a good way. She does miss him too. She isn't forgetting him quickly. From what he knows, from Toby, from Daphne, Wilke even made a comment at some point carelessly, she is doing fine, she seems to have forgiven Daphne, is still hanging out with her, in fact more than ever. Then again Daphne has a recent opening for best friend.

His mother comes in and he lets the picture fall, she looks annoyed, as she has been for almost 3 weeks now. "It is enough! Stop playing heartsick and come and help me make dinner" she signs at him but he just turns onto his side, looks at his wall and waits for her to leave again.

Bay is getting better and better at signing, she spends every free minute still learning. She tells herself it is for Daphne, that she will be better at communicating with her, that it is necessary to get their friendship, their sisterhood, working but she knows she is lying to herself. Things are ok now, she misses him but after a few very rocky days with Daphne, resentful and meanspirited she would talk on purpose in the other direction or really fast, she settled down and is now trying. They hang out more than before, now that Daphne doesn't really seem to see Emmett in the afternoons anymore. She mentioned once that he was still mad at her but then stopped talking about it, if out of respect for her or because she didn't want to share, Bay doesn't know. Some days are better than others, when her parents look so happy to have all 3 kids in the house for supper for example, joking, getting along, she goes to bed feeling warm inside and certain that the break up was the right thing to do. Some days suck, she will see a motorbike and just feel like weeping when it doesn't stop in front of her. A few days a week she drives to her billboard to pine in earnest and while listening to Christina Perry's The lonely she cries and cries, then goes back home and puts on a happy face again, plays cards with Daphne, talks about Angelo, mysterious Angelo they share yet know nothing about. She knows Emmett comes over a couple of days a week to play with Toby but she makes sure never to be there, though she has secretly walked to Carlton after school and stood hidden away watching him go to his bike, drive off, always alone, looking a bit crestfallen, though she may be imagining this. And she has been designing a pink dress girl to go on the wall at the end of his road, so he can see it every day. She doesn't know what the girl should be doing… this girl should be even angrier than any of the others, she should be downright horribly rude; she looked up insults in ASL, but they are hard and require movement which is hard to spray into a still picture. Melody may die of a heart-attack if she sees a graffiti girl signing "asshole" visible from the front windows of her house, but Bay doesn't care. It even fills her with satisfaction to think that she would freak out. Regina didn't really say anything to Bay about the 6 am sex talk, she just said something very generic once at Fajita Thursday, along the lines that teens nowadays should really make sure they were being safe if they were sexually active. Her mom had agreed and her father had rolled his eyes, maybe thinking that kids like Bay and Toby weren't like the kids from Regina's usual neighborhood. They would not end up pregnant at 16. There is no danger for her anyway, she has no interest in any boys right now, she thinks, just in one boy and he is unattainable. She sighs and clicks on the next lesson, then shakes her hands out preparing them for another hour or two of intense work.

Daphne knows Bay is still learning more and more signs, she is getting really good at it and she also knows this is not just for her, but Bay spends almost every afternoon at home and she only goes to her friends' house when Emmett is in the garage, drumming away with Toby, so she knows they aren't sneaking around behind her back anymore. If they were Emmett might not be in as foul a mood as he currently is in. She knows that he is still angry at her, but she doesn't know what to do about it. She tries to be as sweet and cheerful as possible when around him but she is afraid of even mentioning her family and definitely Bay. Like when someone's pet dies and you don't really want to say anything pet related yet somehow the word dog seems to have snuck into your vocabulary and be unavoidable constantly. Melody told her he would come out if this funk soon, but it has been weeks and even melody thinks he is just being an idiot at this point. Will he ever go back to normal with her? There are times, as she sits with a couple of girls from her class and watches them chitchat about Justin Bieber, with him sitting on the table at the opposite end, that she wonders if it was worth it. If she should maybe go and tell Emmett to go back to Bay if that means he will be her friend again. But then she pictures them kissing (or worse… more than kissing!) and feels like throwing up. Bay came around quite quickly, except she keeps secretly studying ASL and there has been an evening or two where she went to ask her something in her room in the evening and seen the tear tracks down her cheeks. But that could have been about something else, she tells herself and tries to swallow the bitter taste in her mouth down. A taste she knows is the mix between guilt and regret.

The lack of Emmett in her life feels like when you lose a tooth, a gap that your tongue keeps going to, even though it feels odd and sometimes painful, a gap that makes everything different, smiling, eating, that you can't forget is there. And she has tried to fill the gap with basketball practice, with time with Bay, with one-on-ones with Toby, with occasional afternoons out whining to Wilke. Actually they have been less occasional and more regular as of lately. She knows he fancies her though she never let it escalate again like she did that day in the back of his car, they are just friends who flirt. Sometimes she feels guilty about this, as if she replaced Emmett with someone else who pines after her, but it is nothing like that.

It is late but she doesn't feel like going to bed yet and so she goes up to Bay's room and knocks even though she wouldn't hear an answer if there was one, then goes in and sees her asleep on her bed, fully dressed, her laptop in front of her still playing the ASL tutorial. The bitterness rushes back into her mouth and her eyes fill with tears. She hates that she is doing this to them. But she would hate the alternative too.

It happens so fast that she really doesn't even realize what is going on and then there is just pain and light and dark and sirens, someone shouting, someone yelling at her, blood in her mouth. And someone moving her which causes more pain and then nothing but silence and blackness. Nothingness.

She didn't catch it all the first time around and is still unsure about the details as she sits there, her hands in her lap, being driven faster than is allowed. The phone rang and all hell broke loose, all the adults talking at the same time and she doesn't know which lips to read first, nobody bothering to sign, shock and tears welling up in everyone's eyes. They all ride in one car, crammed in, with Daphne and her grandmother and both mothers sharing the back seat bench, all animosity forgotten, the tragic circumstances binding them together as a family, both moms holding hands. She feels guilty and knows it is silly, that it has nothing to do with her, but she still does. She was so angry with her today when Emmett ignored her completely, hated on Bay for breaking her best friendship and now this. When they get there Toby puts his arms around her while the adults go yelling at some nurse, find out more. They come back and don't know much. The moms hug and cry, Toby moves and puts his arm around her grandma who looks too shocked to cry and Daphne feels an overwhelming need to get away from them. She walks back, inches towards the wall, tries to make herself invisible. And she takes out her phone and writes with slow fingers and a heavy heart.

He is having dinner when his phone vibrates, his mother looks at him angrily when he takes it out. They had this conversation a million times, no phones at the dinner table, but since she is in a pissy mood anyhow, ever since he ignored her yesterday, he doesn't really care. The message makes every hair on his body stand up and he feels immediately sick to his stomach. He stands up and rushes to get his jacket and helmet, handing over the phone to his mother, make her understand. She looks at it and reads

"Bay was in a car accident, are in emergency room, she is really hurt. St Mary's hospital. Come!"


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: This last chapter was hugely popular and that makes me very happy. I was afraid people would be turned off with the turn in events, but clearly that did not happen. Thank you so much for letting me know. I know the end was confusing and that was actually on purpose, it was supposed to be that way, to create some suspense and because the situation required some confusion I thought.**

Chapter 10:

He has never driven faster, his insides churning, he feels like he hasn't taken a proper breath since he got that message and his stomach is still upset, refusing to digest the pasta he was eating. His mother didn't want him to take the bike, said she would drive there herself, she was calmer and afraid that he would hurt himself rushing, but he couldn't wait for her, he needed to be at the hospital like 10 minutes ago. And he is lucky, there is barely any traffic and no police. He parks and rushes inside, needs to know, needs to see that she is OK and he is deadly afraid that she might not be; if she isn't though he doesn't really want to know. The Kennish-Vazquez clan is standing around in the waiting area of the ER looking terrified and more like a unit than ever before. Puzzle pieces that finally combined into a family, gelled together by pain and worry. Daphne is sitting next to her grandmother, but as soon as she sees him she stands up and comes to hug him. He only lets her close for a short moment, gently pushing her away quickly , so she can see his hands and asking the question he is not sure he wants answered. "Is she going to be ok?" Daphne looks down and shrugs, "We don't know, they don't say anything. She was hit by someone. They are "working" on her they said." Emmett immediately pictures Bay's doom-buggy, the one without airbags, the one without any safety features, the one without a freaking roof for heaven's sake, and the pressure in his chest increases. Out of the corner of his eye he sees John talking, possibly yelling, at the desk lady, demanding to know something more, demanding to see his daughter. He sees the way Regina and Mrs. Kennish are leaning onto each other, holding each other up, finding a lifeline in another mother too worried to think clearly. He sees Toby, the constant joker, massaging his temples, his gaze lost in terrifying thoughts. And he sees Daphne's eyes, red and tortured, looking up at him. He wishes he could go outside and scream, try to find a way to properly breathe again, but he knows he won't be able to, until he knows what is going on, if she will be ok, and even though his own pain is so acute he just opens his arms and welcomes Daphne into them and feels her sob against his chest.

Daphne doesn't allow herself to cry for too long, the guilt and the sadness only tamed for a little while, but she is thankful that he is there for her, only she knows he really is here for Bay. And right now that doesn't even matter. As long as she is ok, as long as she recovers, they might as well get married for all she cares. Melody joins them, gives everyone hugs, asks if there are any news and then sits down next to Adriana. Emmett is still standing and refuses to sit down; she has never seen him like this before, his blank face a mask she can see right through, his eyes giving him away, letting her see that he is terrified. She doesn't really believe in any deity, never has, her mother not being religious and her grandmother practicing her own religion outside the house, respecting Regina's wish not to be proselytized, she just wasn't brought up with any religion. But now she prays inwardly, starts trying to make deals with God. If she lives, I promise I will spend more time with her, bond properly. If she isn't badly injured, I will try harder to make our family work. If she comes out of this unharmed, I will go to church and check it out. She didn't even know, how close she felt to Bay until right now. She has never really pondered what they are to each other, but the way she feels right now is unmistakably telling her, Bay is definitely family.

A nurse comes and asks something, maybe who Bay Kennish's family is, he doesn't know as the woman is not really facing him, but everyone gets up and he comes closer. She moves her lips, too fast for him to read and he wants to shake her in anger, hearing people always assume everyone can hear them, feel entitled to the entire world and so he watches not understanding as she points towards a door and everyone starts moving. He looks at Daphne, at his mother but nobody is looking back at him, nobody will interpret, he just has to follow them. At the door, the nurse turns and this time he manages to read her lips. "Only family I'm afraid." He starts shaking his head, wants to complain to someone, lifts his hands to start signing but he sees Mrs. Kennish talk and haphazardly sign "Everyone here is family to Bay." and he could just go and hug her. The nurse opens her eyes questioning, shrugs, and ushers them into another room, tells them to wait here. Ugh! He hates waiting, and now he is starting to get panicky as well. A special room in a hospital, where only family is allowed… he has seen this on Grey's anatomy. They do this when someone… he can't even think the word when in relation with Bay, his lungs shrinking yet another little bit and he lifts his hand to his lips and starts biting his nails. But the wait is not long, a doctor comes in and starts talking, Regina signs for Daphne's benefit, but he can see that she is only signing about half of what the doctor is saying, she isn't an interpreter but in his current state of mind it frustrates him to no end.

"A drunk driver crashed into Bay's car as she was in a crossing, her car toppled over. She has broken ribs, a concussion, and was bleeding a lot when she arrived. She is in surgery now, they may have to remove her spleen." The choking sensation just gets worse, what does that all mean? Concussion he knows, he had one as a kid but broken ribs sounds horrible and can one live without a spleen? What on earth is a spleen anyway? He looks around and sees Daphne hugging the sobbing Mrs. Kennish, Regina and John talking to the doctor, their backs turned to him so he doesn't have a clue what they are saying. He needs to know though and he turns to his mother, who he hadn't even looked at since she arrived, and signs "Is she going to live, will she survive?"

They have moved to a third waiting area, this time the OR waiting room, and Daphne is sitting in a corner with Toby and Emmett. Minutes in hospital waiting areas are slower than minutes everywhere else and every time she looks at the big clock above the door the little handles have barely moved. Toby is listening to some music on his Ipod and Emmett stares vacantly at the wall. He is too worried to talk to her. And what would they talk about anyway? School? Movies? How she was too selfish to let him be with the girl he clearly liked? She bites her lip and holds onto her mother's words. She will be fine, they will fix her and she will be fine. But surgery, hour long surgery to fix her, doesn't exactly make any of them feel at ease. A doctor in scrubs finally comes in and Toby and Emmett are on their feet faster than lightning, she follows them a little more slowly. He talks to John, Kathryn and Regina, not knowing, or not caring, that some family members are deaf. She can read his lips though, reads "went well, she is recovering now. You can go and see her, two by two maybe, not everyone at once. She is still anaesthetized, sleeping, but she should be waking up in the next hour or so." Emmett taps her, his eyes begging for her to interpret and so she does. He nods and thanks her, then turns around and slowly walks to a far off corner, where he sits down, his back to the group, buries his face in his hands and allows himself for the first time this evening to shed a tear. Tears of fear and of relief. Daphne goes and puts a hand on his shoulder, a silent apology for the last few weeks and she knows he takes it when he reaches up to her and puts his hand on hers, lets her comfort him for once.

Toby has never been as scared as he was on the last 2 hours and even though the doctors have all said she will be fine, he is still scared. Regina and his mom went in to see her first, his dad letting Regina do this, more than a surprise for everyone, and when they came back they were even more weepy than before, unable to express in words how bad Bay looks. He walks slowly down the corridor next to his dad, too old to hold his hand and yet wishing he wasn't. The room is dark, only few lights on, a few machine beeps breaking the silence every now and then, a curtain in the middle of the room, dividing it. Bay lies on the side closer to the door and when he sees her he involuntarily gasps. Her face is bruised and scraped to a degree where recognition is almost difficult, only her messy curls looking the same. A tube is in her mouth, the doctor mentioned this, that she still had that tube they used for the surgery, they would take it out once she woke up, but he had not really imagined how grotesque it would look and one of her hands, the left one, is all wrapped up in gauze a few thin tubes leading to it, giving her medicine. He looks at his father, who stoically watches his daughter, Toby knows that he is afraid that if he starts crying, he won't be able to stop and so Toby takes the first step closer to her, touches the unwrapped right hand with two fingers, giving her the smallest and most careful of all caresses. They spend about 5 minutes in the room, neither of them able to stand the sight of broken Bay for longer than that, him by her side and his dad at the foot of the bed, probably feeling guilty, Toby thinks. For buying her that car, for allowing her to drive it, for letting her out of the house at all. When they leave the room he clears his throat and then puts an arm around his dad, trying to comfort him and he feels the man slowly falling apart. They stand in the hallway long enough for him to wipe his face, to look in control again, then they go back to the waiting room still in silence, so Daphne and her grandmother can go in.

He and his mom are the last people who have not been in to see her. Everyone who has gone has come back looking terrible though and since he and his mom are not really family he is unsure if they will even let him in. But he needs to see for himself, needs to make sure she really is ok, recovering. When Daphne and Adriana are back, tears galore once again, Regina holding Daphne as she cries, John walks over and puts a hand on his shoulder, says slowly "You go now, son." He wants his mother with him, the hatchet buried and the last few weeks of anger forgotten, and she doesn't need him to ask, she nudges him ever so slightly towards the waiting room door and they go together.

She does look awful (when a doctor says fine, he clearly doesn't mean it in the literal sense), but she is alive and she will recover and that is all that matters. He sees past the blue and purple in her face, past the stitches along her jaw line, past the swollen shut eye and the big tube snaking into her mouth and he just sees his beautiful artist girl with the smile that looks like the spring sunshine feels. Slowly, carefully, he goes closer, takes her hand, small and with the black polished nails bitten down to little stumps and strokes it. His mother has merged into the back of the room and when he looks at her, she motions getting out and he nods; she hates hospital rooms and who can blame her. A nurse walks past her as she leaves, starts reading some stuff off the many monitors around Bay, writing down some notes and after he carefully lifts her little hand to his lips, the only place that really looks strong enough to stand a little kiss right now, she taps him on the shoulder softly. "You can talk to her if you want" she says, clearly also unaware of his deafness, and he nods, watches her leave in silence. Then, after making sure nobody is around, he bends down, gets close to her ear and whispers just loud enough to be audible, the words feeling strange in his throat, "Bay. I'm here."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

She opens her eyes, with difficulty. Her body is not ready to wake up and her eyes work overtime just to halfway open, then fall shut again, but someone keeps prodding her, saying her name. "Bay… come on Bay, wake up!" She tries again, one of her eyes cooperating a lot better than the other, her mind still deeply in that sleepy nowhere that is deep deep rest, and she wants to whimper, ask for 5 more minutes but her throat feels bizarre, kind of full of… plastic? This odd feeling, like pressure inside her throat, wakes her up a little more, she starts to gag and to thrash, which makes her realize that one of her hands is tied down by something. Desperation crawls up her body like ants and she starts to feel pain along with this horribly panicky feeling, unable to move, unable to scream and yet full of fear, then a hand holds down her arm and calmly says "It is ok, Bay, calm down. Your mom is here, look! We will get that tube out of your throat in a minute, but you need to calm down or you will hurt yourself." The woman who is speaking is very large in a soft, grandmotherly way and is wearing enormous white scrubs, she can see her mom standing behind her, her eyes watery, kind of half reaching out towards her. White scrubs, a tube in her throat, her foggy mind starts connecting the dots and then they rush back, the memories. She went for a drive, to see her billboard and then just to clear her head, she was in that big crossing 7 miles away from home, the light was green for her. She is absolutely certain of that. Then that car came out of nowhere and the world went upside down.

"You were in an accident, Bay, but you will be fine. A doctor is on his way to take the tube out of your throat" the big nurse warmly says and then moves aside to let her mother come closer. "Oh baby, baby, baby, I am here. Don't worry, I am right here!" she keeps saying and big tears roll off her cheeks as she takes her hand. As her mother comes closer she sees Regina standing against the door of the room. Both her mothers are here for her she thinks and she closes her eyes again.

The doctor comes, talks to her, explains what happened, takes the tube out of her throat (which makes her cough and dry heave). He says a lot of medical terms, which mean that she was really lucky, she could have easily died, but she didn't. Her ribs are broken, not all of them but a few, her head is concussed and that explains why the room spins a lot when they lift her bed up a few degrees, so that she can sit somewhat up. They had to do surgery on her and she has like 12 million stitches in her side. Oh and also in her face, so chances are she looks like Frankenstein's (or Deafenstein's) monster. Her throat will hurt for a little while because of the tube that was in there, but honestly what doesn't hurt at this point? There is a tube with a bag coming out of her side (the stitched up side) to collect some kind of disgusting fluid, there is a plastic thing in her hand, giving her pain killers and some other stuff, there are tubes in her private bits even! Because she won't be able to go to the toilet for a while. And, because when the doctor told her all of this she got a little bit desperate and started to cry and choke a little bit and all of the machines around her went berserk, there is now also a tube in her face with little outlets in her nose, blowing oxygen into it. Life really sucks. Her mothers (plural) are there next to her, hold her hand, kiss her forehead, tell her how happy they are that she will be fine, absolutely fine. Yeah, she could have ended up dead or a vegetable, she guesses, but right now it is hard to feel happy. She doesn't badly hurt, but she feels like she would if there weren't like 3 tubes dedicated to pour medicines into her, it feels like when you know there is music playing somewhere close by but all you can feel is the drums sort of interfering with your heart beat, you know it is there but it isn't. It occurs to her that Daphne, and Emmett, might only hear music this way, and this leads her to wonder if they are here. She mouths "Daphne" in Regina's direction and she answers "They are all here, Daphne, Toby, your dad, desperate to see you." She smiles a little bit, nothing like near death experience to prove that you are appreciated after all. Loved.

Daphne and Toby are going together this time, all 3 parents and the one grandma have had some time with her and it was decided that the "siblings" should go and do the cheering up once they were done with the coddling. Bay looks just as awful as before she thinks, but she smiles at her, tries to look like seeing her sister like this is not upsetting at all. The tube in her throat is gone, but now there is one across her face, under her nose. She also looks somewhat greenish… that is in the spots where she is not bruised or scraped or covered by gauze. A cop is in the waiting room talking to the parents, the driver of the other car is not doing so great and his blood alcohol was way high. Her mother had looked pained at this, knowing very well that she used to drive drunk all the time, that she could have been the driver who didn't manage to press the brakes fast enough and nearly kill someone else's little girl. The doom-buggy did better than expected, the cop said, a smaller car could have been a total death trap under the same circumstances. It makes her feel sick to her stomach to think this. They were talking about suing and insurance when Daphne and Toby set off.

Toby is the perfect brother when it comes to tense situation she realizes as he sits down next to Bay on her bed and makes her laugh out loud within seconds with some joke she doesn't catch because his back is turned to her. "How are you feeling?" she finally manages to say and Bay half-grins (which is more like a grimace with her face so bruised and swollen) and replies quite cheerfully, using her free hand to sign along "as if a car had crashed into mine!" Daphne laughs out loud, and gives her leg, the body part closest to her, a little squeeze. They spend a good 20 minutes kidding around, Toby has a joke at hand every 15 seconds and although Bay complains that laughing hurts her, she doesn't really ask him to stop. Before leaving Toby leans down and whispers "you scared the shit out of me, sis. Don't ever do that again." and Bay's eyes fill with tears for a moment, then she smiles at him and makes a cross over her heart. "Promise". Daphne doesn't know how to go about hugging her, so she does the awkward old lady hand squeeze and they promise to be back tomorrow morning (it is after all 3 am and they are beyond tired). At the door Daphne turns around and goes back. "Emmett is in the waiting room. He was here the whole time… he was very worried. Do I send him in?" Bay's eye (the one that is not swollen shut) widens for a second and then she nods, understanding the words Daphne is not saying. "Thank you".

His mother left once the parents came back reporting that she was ok and awake, still somewhat groggy, but pretty much herself and not in pain. She had asked him if he wanted to come along, but he had shaken his head and she had accepted it, kissed his cheek and left. Now he is sitting here, in his little corner, every now and then Regina will come and put a hand on his shoulder, Adriana gave him a hug out of nowhere and even Mr. K gave him a manly pat on the back, that kind of hurt a little bit, but nobody asks him to leave, to respect their privacy. He is not sure any of them knows he was dating Bay or if they think he is just the most concerned friend of all times (or possibly somewhat creepy, what with the little cry fest he had in his corner). Daphne and Toby have gone to see her, the two people at a time rule sucks, and a police man is talking animatedly to the adults; so he just sits here and feels tired, exhausted even, but absolutely sure that he cannot go home and sleep, not with her there, possibly not even knowing that he is here.

Daphne comes back and signs for him to go. "She wants to see you". Nobody makes any move to stop him, so he swiftly walks over to Daphne, hugs her tightly and then leaves the waiting room, slowing down as he approaches the door of her room. She is sitting reclined in her bed, looking a lot better than before he thinks, if only because she is smiling at him and not looking 5 inches from death. "Hey, you" she says and he grins, takes two steps and sits down on the bed, careful not to sit on any tube or cable. He doesn't know what to say and so he just takes her hand and grins again. She takes her hand from him and signs "you came to see me." When she touches her face to sign "see" she kind of flinches and he involuntarily flinches along. "Don't sign. It is ok. Of course I came. I was so worried, they wouldn't tell us what was going on. I didn't know if you would… live." he signs and makes sure to mouth extra carefully, the last few words difficult to get out as he fights the lump the tension and tiredness created in his throat. He won't cry again, not in front of her, he tells himself and tries hard to swallow the lump. She looks at him, tenderly, then cups his cheek with her one good hand. "If I could sit up without risking my wounds to open again, I would kiss you." she says, fast enough so that he would not necessarily catch it all, but he does. And he bends down and kisses her awkwardly, the plastic tube on her face in the way, afraid that if he puts any kind of pressure on her bruised, swollen, stitched up face, she will be in pain. Their lips barely brush against each other and she pouts a little bit when he moves away. "That was not worth losing my spleen for!". He rolls his eyes and gives a huge grin as he throws his hands into the air.

Her parents have been in and out of the room 20 thousand times and have finally left, assured by her that she will be fine for a couple of hours while they catch up on some sleep and shower. The nurse also told them that she would be fine and probably asleep within 15 seconds. Plus she would be moved out of intensive care to a regular OR recovery room in just a few hours. Emmett however refused to leave, said he would be fine not sleeping for one night. Her parents looked unsure about this as well, but honestly, if there was ever a situation in which a boy staying the night with her would lead to nothing, it was tonight. And her mother saw how Emmett held her hand, how he lifted the cup of water to her lips so that she could suck a tiny bit of water through the straw and she understood that she was in good hands. Bay could not stay awake for another second once her parents, siblings and grandmother left, and she just kind of passed out.

Pain in her side and a wave of nausea wakes her up and she has to breath sharply to control it, she presses the help button and the big nurse is back, injects something into her tube collection and she feels her body relax almost immediately. Once she can breathe calmly again she looks around for Emmett and spots him closer than she realized when she was fighting not to throw up in pain. He has fallen asleep on the bedside chair, his arms crossed on the side of her bed, his head resting on them. She lifts her right hand and carefully strokes his hair, trying to be gentle enough not to wake him. Her whole body feels numbed by the new pain killer, as if there was bubble wrap all the way around her, protecting her from her own pain. Even her mind feels bubble wrapped, her thoughts starting to get less sharp as the full effect unfolds and she is about to fall asleep. One thought though is clear as day. She is falling, plummeting even, in love with this boy.


	12. Chapter 12

AN: Gosh guys, I am so sorry for the loooooooooong wait. Was on holidays and thought I would have plenty of time for writing but alas… I was wrong. But I am back home and so new chapters will start popping up frequently. I hope you haven't lost interest and this is worth the wait.

Chapter 12

He looks through the stuff he is taking to the hospital as he starts packing it all into his backpack. He got his camera, though she still isn't up for posing much, despite the fact that her face is almost completely back to normal, if one ignores the bluish hue of the bruises, that is. He also got the pictures he wanted to show her, he has been snapping pictures of stuff she is missing as she is still tied to that hospital bed and he has a little highlight today; he went past her billboard yesterday as a big bunch of people were admiring it and got a snapshot of the group staring at it. He got the bag of sweets he has been smuggling in daily on her request and a little present, a set of colorful pens for the sketchbook he brought her last week. And so he sets off for his daily, on weekends even twice daily, visit.

She is so bored. The doctor said she could go home soon, but he had said that twice before and it never happened. Once she got a fever and they ran a hundred tests to decide in the end that it was an "unexplained fever" and once she bled a little from the wound in her side and they decided to take some stitches out and restitch it up. She gets visits from everybody and their uncle in the afternoon and evening, but during school hours nobody but her mom comes. And hours upon hours of her mom sitting next to her fussing over this and that ("Don't touch your IV!" "Stop playing with that scab" "Don't scratch your face" "Stop holding your breath, you know the machine will just beep!") don't exactly make for very fun times, so when her mother said she needed to run some errands today, Bay wasn't exactly upset. But now she is bored. They wake her up at 6 am to get her temperature and her blood pressure measured and to help her slowly make her way to the bathroom and she rarely manages to fall back asleep afterwards, so she has been lying here, watching the ceiling for nearly 10 hours now. Internet doesn't work in this hospital and the TV is coin operated, so she listens to her iPod for a while but she knows every single sings by heart by now and so she does what she does many hours every day, she stares up at the ceiling and just waits. Emmett will come and visit soon she thinks and a smile spreads across her face like morning sunshine. He has come every single day, but they don't get alone time very often. Daphne is there most days and they agreed that in her presence all cuddling should be kept to an absolute minimum, so chaste kisses on cheek and a rare handholding is all she can really hope for. And to be honest, she should be thankful for this, huge upgrade from what was going on just a few weeks ago. Just as she ponders this lack of passion she hears a knock and there he is, cute as always (even cuter she thinks, this tender look he has when he visits her, becomes him) and, thank goodness, alone. She sits up and ignores the sharp pain in her side, signs "finally" and then reaches out to grab his hand. He sits down next to her and without a word just leans in, kisses her, hard and fast, making up for the last 5 days in which they didn't exchange anything but a little peck goodbye on the forehead. She is so ready to go home and do this for hours on end.

He feels like it has been months since they had some time alone. He loves Daphne and is really growing to like the extended Vazquez-Kennish clan, they have been anything but kind to him and never ask him to leave or seem bothered by his presence, but their constant buzzing around Bay and therefore, by association, him, is getting a bit much. He can't wait for her to be all well, to go back to days like that almost forgotten picnic the first time, well actually the second time, they kissed. He wants to take her out for rides on his bike, wants to go to a game with her, take her to the Christmas ball at his school. Actually he hasn't told her about this, because he wants to make sure she will be all well for it and also maybe a little bit because he is a bit nervous… he doesn't really know how to ask, the ball is in less than a month though and he is getting quite excited. He has never gone to a ball with a girl before, other than Daphne that is, but it was as friends, this time he will be able to pick her up in his tux and take pictures on the porch and slow-dance with someone who cares for him the way he cares for her. He tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear as she signs about how bored she is, and he grins and signs back "once you are out of here, I won't allow you to be bored ever again". Then he reaches down to his backpack to take his pictures out, to show her what he brought. She laughs and scoots over a little bit more so he can sit down next to her more comfortably and they look at pictures or rather she looks at the pictures and he looks at her looking at them.

A nurse comes in and talks quickly and while she moves around touching this and that and he doesn't catch a word of what she is saying, Bay is not very good at interpreting yet and so he waits, sees Bay nod in excitement and turn to him, her eyebrows lifted and her smile sparkling. He nods in assent and wonders what he just agreed to, when he sees the nurse bring in a wheelchair and they help her out of bed and into the chair, attach that bag, that has grown to be like a third arm sprouting out of Bay's hand, to the chair and then he pushes her down the corridor towards the elevator. He knows exactly where he is taking her. A week or so ago, she fell asleep and her parents were there and so he went for a little tour of the hospital and found this garden. It is small and the average age of the people in it seems to be 97 years, but it is outdoors and there is sunshine and even a bird or two picking away on some crumbs one of the really old ladies is making while trying to gnaw on a cracker. Once they are outside she looks at him and her face is so full of glee he can't believe it didn't occur to him earlier to ask if he could take her out. Maybe this would be the perfect time and place to ask her about that ball he thinks and starts preparing himself mentally to be possibly shot down. She may not want to go to a ball at an all deaf school, she may think it even silly to have such a thing, she may not want to meet his friends. Or maybe she will, he just needs to ask and he sees a little bench and steers towards it, he can hardly push her chair and sign at the same time. She looks at him, ready to say something, he sees something flit across her eyes (maybe doubt he thinks, maybe she doesn't know the signs for the words she wants to say) and then she smiles and signs "this is perfect".

She has not been outside since she had the accident and this feels like a rebirth. The birds are chirping, the winds breezes in and out between the foliage of the few trees and her hair and somewhere in the little garden there is a wind chime that makes sounds so soft they are almost magical. She is going to tell Emmett that she has missed this, the sound of outside, of nature, rather than the constant beeping of machines when she realizes he can't hear it, he won't be able to share this and she stops herself, just signs "thank you, this is perfect". The thought that he has never heard a bird chirp bothers her though, she just can't imagine it. As he parks her by a bench she keeps thinking, these past few weeks in the hospital she has become more aware of all the little noises around her probably because usually she doesn't spend days on end lying in bed staring at the ceiling and just listening to her surroundings. These noises, some comforting, like the sound of her mother humming a lullaby, some annoying like that phone that keeps ringing every single evening when the nurses are changing shifts and can't get to it, some so common, like the sound of water pouring into a cup, of the footsteps of a child skipping, an old man coughing, all of them are completely foreign to Emmett. She had never thought of deafness in these terms, to her it had always just been something that made communicating harder for them until she mastered signing, but now she is suddenly sad for him. He doesn't look sad at all though, in fact he looks a little bit nervous.

"What is it?" she signs and says and he breathes deeply, scaring her for about half a second and then signs very, very slowly, mouthing clearly, like her does when he wants a point to come across without a doubt. "Will you come to the Christmas ball with me? At my school?" A little butterfly awakens in her belly and she giggles involuntarily as she grabs his hand and entwines her fingers with his. He was nervous to ask her that? Did he honestly believe she would say no? She grins at him and says, not bothering to sign, because he will understand this, "Of course, I would love to!", then she grabs the neck of his t shirt and pulls him down to meet his lips with hers.


	13. Chapter 13

I am sorry for the long absence, new job, move across a couple of countries and a lot of stuff in life came between me and writing. This is a little Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa present for all my lovely readers. You guys are just fantastic! Thank you for each and every comment, they each make me so happy.

Chapter 13 *Christmas chapter*

He looks through the rows upon rows of flowers and raises his eyebrows. He came in with the idea of buying a rose, single, red and long stemmed, like in the movies. But now he realizes that there is so much else there and a single red rose might just be a tad overdone. He is not one to go with the flow and copy everyone else (I mean, have you seen his motorbike?), but which flower would be perfect? Because it needs to be perfect. The lady who works there comes over and starts talking to him, she moves her mouth quickly, while looking from his face to the flowers, back and forth, making it virtually impossible for him to understand a word of what she is saying. He shakes his head and signs "I am deaf, I cannot understand you" and the lady looks mortified. He half smiles and shrugs, the way he always does when he gets into this situation, though he does try his best to avoid getting here in first place. He loves self checkouts and hates drive throughs. Without an interpreter he won't be able to communicate with this woman, even if he did understand what she is saying, he has no way of making himself understood and so he walks away from the lady, scanning the flowers and trying to find one that is special, unique, interesting. Like her.

She has been home for 17 days and the grace period is over, her mother has stopped making her her favorite breakfast every morning, her father has stopped trying not to be argumentative, Toby has stopped making the effort not to bug her and even Daphne has allowed herself to make a stink face when she saw Emmett and her making out on the front porch a couple of days ago. So back to normal it is. Or semi-normal. Because her strength is not what it used to be and probably due to the bad concussion her balance has been completely off since the crash, and so she still walks more slowly and with some insecurity, she still gets tired halfway up the stairs (which she now takes one at a time) and still has to go to rehabilitation, a place full of people recovering from strokes, affected by horrible ailments such as Alzheimer or with accidents much worse than hers, that left them with tubes coming out of their necks, helping them breathe. There Barbara, her therapist, makes her walk up and down a corridor, faster and faster, in the hope that soon she will be able to run and participate in PE again. She doesn't care about PE and running was never her thing at all, but she has her own ambitions. She wants to be able to walk in heels without falling over, because her new dress wouldn't look right without heels, and she wants to be able to dance gracefully. Or at least as ungracefully as she did before the accident. When she has been daydreaming about this day, she always sees them dancing under some fairy lights, like Cinderella in the end of the movie, floating about in perfect harmony. In the bathroom she takes off her pajamas and looks at her reflection. Her face is fine, if somewhat disheveled by sleep, it looks the way it used to do, and her gaze wanders down to the biggest reminder of the accident, her scar. It is pink and thick and goes from her ribcage to below her belly button, not quite straight, like a crayon line drawn by a preschooler. Good thing it isn't summer, she thinks, because bikinis would not look good. Emmett has seen the scar, hell he even helped clean it and has never been grossed out. She feels so lucky. And tonight will be magical. Slowly, carefully, she gets into the shower.

He has his tux out (his for the day at least, the thing is, of course, rented), lying on his bed and now, looking at it, wrapped in his towel waiting for his hair to dry some more, he is starting to get a little nervous. This is the first time he is taking a real date to the Christmas ball, and not just a real date, but a hearing date on top of it. The accident and all that jazz prevented her from ever meeting any of his school friends, apart from Daphne of course, and while they do not have any issues communicating, or find ways around them constantly, he can't be sure she will be able to communicate with anyone else. She still struggles with his mothers quick hands for example. However, Daphne is also bringing a hearing date. He still doesn't quite trust Wilkie, but he is not getting involved there; the patched up relationship between him and Daphne is still fragile and wouldn't withstand an argument. And in the end it really is none of his business. Just like him and Bay are none of hers. He lets go of the towel and starts to get himself dressed.

She had initially chosen a black dress; black is, after all, her favorite color (or lack of color, as she likes to remind Toby), but in the spirit of festiveness she let her mother help her chose and they went with a midnight blue dress, with little beads that look like stars in the midnight sky. She likes how the light catches on it as she sways on the spot side to side, it seems to make her whole body sparkle and she can't wait to see Emmett's face when he sees her, all sparkly (but not in a creepy Cullen-esque way, of course). She applies make up and then ties her hair back, shakes her head at the scarecrow- like girl that looks back at her from the mirror, then proceeds to untie it again. She likes it down better anyway. The final touch are the shoes. They also bought these new for her first official ball. She was a freshman last year and therefore not invited to either junior or senior prom and her mother was more than willing to spend inordinate amounts of money in her first "ball outfit", which meant buying expensive new shoes as well as the dress. She carefully steps into them and immediately realizes that shoes with this high a heel may not have been the smartest choice. Especially for someone as insecure on her feet as she has been lately. She walks very slowly towards the door and then down the hall, one hand on the wall to steady herself; the stairs, despite the railing, are impossible, she quickly realizes and so takes the shoes off and walk down the stairs, with the pretty, pretty shoes clutched into her hand. Downstairs her mother fawns over her, nearly crying, takes pictures, rearranges her hair 4 times, nearly cries again, and makes her swirl around to see her back. She feels sillier and sillier with each wobbly turn, then downright embarrassed when her father and Toby come in and start taking pictures. But soon their attention is diverted when Daphne comes in, her hair in an intricate do (her mother, their mother, is a hairdresser… how could she have forgotten that?) and wearing a beautiful dark green gown. Everybody starts fawning over her now and though Bay had wished for an attention break, she feels a small pang of jealousy. "You look amazing!" she says, while secretly thinking that Daphne looks a little bit like Fiona from Shrek. Fiona as a human though. "So do you! Like a princess!" Daphne replies and settles next to her for a series of pictures. "Bay, put your shoes on" Toby, the self-declared photographer of this event, directs. "You look like a dwarf next to Daphne bare feet!"

She follows his directions and then stands next to the little table, on hand casually on it to stabilize herself and smiles in Toby's direction. Regina uses a photo break to come over and give her a warm hug. "You look beautiful. Absolutely beautiful." but before she can even come up with a good response (her eyes have somehow welled over during that tiny exchange), the doorbell rings.

He met Wilkie in the driveway and after a curt nod (Wilkie has no interest whatsoever in signing, despite his dating Daphne and that is definitely part of his dislike of the guy) they stand there now, like two penguins. Nervous, flower holding penguins. Mr. K opens the door and he signs hello but then can't keep his eyes away from Bay. She looks absolutely beautiful and he wishes he had his camera to catch the moment her eyes open appreciatively when she spots him, all dapper, in his tux. He smiles at her and signs "beautiful" from the door, then watches her blush a little. This night will be perfect, he thinks and gives Daphne, who also looks lovely and is standing between him and the rest of the room, a little hug and a "wow" before making his way to Bay. He chastely kisses her cheek (her whole family is watching after all, two moms, dad, brother and grandma) and gives her the flower he chose. It is a giant sunflower and she gives him the biggest smile back. Right choice, he thinks, so much more her than a rose could have ever been. They line up for a few pictures of the four of them and then a couple of each couple separately. He notices that Bay holds very tightly on to him, her hands kind of digging into his arms, and he wonders why, but since her hands are busy holding on to him and her flower and his are busy holding her, he doesn't get a chance. Despite the unexpected clinginess they still get some fun pictures, one he particularly likes, of her holding her sunflower up, like an umbrella and smiling sheepishly. They set off in two separate cars, Daphne and Wilkie in what must be his father's Mercedes, Bay and him in his mother's Volvo. Before driving off he uses his first few minutes alone to tell her again how wonderful, incredible, beautiful she looks and she tells him she has never seen a more handsome man (she must have looked up how to sign handsome today, he thinks and it makes him very proud of her) and they share a kiss. A real one, that makes him feel like his soul is smiling and like he should never let go.

He looks absolutely breathtaking, she thinks, and she is a little bit glad that she did not look up how to sign breathtaking, because she wouldn't be able to stop herself from telling him and she doesn't want him to become conceited. Little secrets keep the spark alive, right? But she can't stop looking at him during the ride. Men always look nicer in suits, but there is something special about a man in a tux. Even if the tux doesn't exactly fit like a glove and he looks a tiny bit uncomfortable with the collar biting into his neck. His hand rests on her knee and she draws little patterns onto the back of it. He gave her a sunflower, an enormous sunflower that looks like one of the pictures in her garage, the most perfect flower she could think of, and now they are driving in silence, a silence she likes, a silence that is comfortable, relaxing. She relaxes into her seat and just thinks how incredibly happy she is right now. The school looks like Christmas threw up on it, twinkly lights everywhere, red nosed reindeer by the herd, a giant menorah gracing the centre of the in-school open space, right next to an equally giant tree, though the branches and even needles are barely visible for there must be thousands of baubles on it. And fake snow everywhere. After an initial "Aww" she starts to worry a little about the fake snow being slippery; slippery is not something she can do right now. He explains, somewhat apologetic, that they don't do huge proms at Carlton, instead they put all their festive effort into this Christmas bonanza. "It looks fabulous! I love it" she assures him. And she does. It is a bit, a teeny tiny bit, over the top, but at least they put an effort into it. And it definitely looks different. Blindingly different. Possibly seizure inducing different. But definitely Christmassy different. Which for a Christmas ball is surely appropriate. He parks and then opens the door for her, gallantly, takes her arm and then they start the incredibly long walk to the gym. She is doubly instable, between her wobbly concussed centre on heels and the fake snow and already, not yet two minutes into this, her feet are hurting like crazy in these shoes. She apologizes "the heels don't help my balance." and he shakes his head "we have time, don't worry", but she does worry a little bit. And the further they go the slower she gets and the more he tugs. She also starts noticing that the closer they get to the gym the more people start looking at her in interest (Emmett brought a crippled hearing girl, they must be thinking, she reckons) and the music gets loud. Very loud. It is actually pretty damn night club loud before they even cross the little square that leads to the gym.

He starts feeling the pumping of sound in his chest when they reach the square and he is trying hard not to be impatient, but Bay just seems to be walking so slowly she could as well be walking backwards at this point. They are inching forward so slowly and all he wants to do is finally get there and have the music all around him, dance, have fun. Daphne and Wilkie walked past them a few minutes ago and are probably having the time of their lives by now and Bay's snail pace is keeping them so close and yet so far from the fun. They do finally make it in, a lot later than he thought and they take a picture next to the crazy Christmas collage made years and years ago. Last year's picture is him and Daphne being ridiculously silly, this year however Bay just doesn't look like she is up for some funny posing, so they take a standard couple picture and then move into the gym (slowly of course). Bay's face… something isn't quite right, but when he asks she shrugs it off, everything is fine, everything is great, everything is just perfect. But the tight face she pulled as they entered the gym never leaves her face. He introduces her to a couple of his friends and she nods and half-smiles, but doesn't engage in conversation, seems distant and distracted and doesn't even attempt to answer the questions she is asked. He wants to get them some drinks but she shakes her head and signs haphazardly "don't leave me alone", so (very slowly) they inch to the bar tables to get some punch. He isn't sure what is wrong, but he is starting to get a little annoyed. Why doesn't she like to be here? Could it be that she feels awkward being around so many deaf people? She never seemed to care before, but now, in the midst of them, she looks like she is getting a root canal, rather than at a ball. A fun filled ball. A should-be-fun-filled ball. Maybe she is only really ok with deaf people when hearing people are in the majority, when she isn't the "odd one out" but rather the opposite. The more he thinks about it and sees her face, scanning the room, with her pinched face, the angrier he gets at her. How could he not have known this? He serves some punch and kind of wishes he hadn't brought her. Maybe he was right all along, maybe deaf and hearing really can't match.

It is so loud in the gym that her ears are actually aching, her head is throbbing and she is finding it hard to even think straight. The music would probably be on the edge of survivable for someone healthy and hearing but it is unbearable for her still somewhat concussed head. But she is not going to tell Emmett because it would be rude. And also, she wants him to have fun, hell, she wants to have fun with him, but how is she going to do this? He points her to a chair and signs something; she would probably be able to read the signs normally, but the thumping inside her head and outside make it near impossible, so she does something she usually refuses to, which is nodding despite not understanding a word. She sits down and watches the room, trying to get used to the way her head feels. Emmett goes, presumably to the toilet, but then stays chatting with some friends on the way, animatedly signing and laughing and suddenly she feels very, very left out. Like she is on Mars when she is actually from Venus. And nobody else is from Venus. But wait, someone actually is! She scans the room and then finally finds him, dancing away with Daphne and she waits for him to make eye contact, then waves him her way. "How are you doing it? How are you able to stand the music?" she asks, screaming, her screams however barely making a dent in the wall of sound and getting lost moments after leaving her lips. He shakes his head and shrugs, mouths "I don't know what you are saying", and then puts a finger in his ear and removes what looks like a big piece of wax. Grossed out, she is about to punch him square in the chest, for being the single most disgusting person ever, when he shows her what he actually pulled out of his ear. Plugs. He plugged his ears. Wilkie may not be the most friendly and helpful of people, but he sure is smart! He grins and pops the plug back in, then gets two cups of punch and goes back to Daphne, who seems to be having a great time. It occurs to her that this left out feeling, this must be what Emmett feels like when he is with her and Toby and their parents are around, this must be what Daphne feels like when she comes for classes at Bay's school, where everybody hears but her. This must be what it feels like for them, all the time. And yet they don't mope and complain. She has a newfound respect for them. But the newfound respect only lasts a few seconds until a new, louder, song starts and her head throbs so hard she can barely think a sentence straight; she decides that she is not going to be able to stay, there just is no way she can do another hour or two of this, much less another full song. She looks around for Emmett but can't find him, so she starts walking, slowly, out of the gym, alongside a wall to hold on to. Outside she breathes easier, though the music is still quite loud and the ringing in her ears will probably last a lifetime. She takes the stupid heels off and then walk bare feet through the clumpy fake snow to the parking lot feeling utterly miserable. She sits down on the hood of the car and starts crying.

He didn't plan on staying away for this long, but he bumped into some school friends and then his favorite song started playing and he just had to dance along to it and he kind of lost track of time. When he finally returns to the chair by the punch bowl she is gone. He starts walking the perimeter of the room, looking for her, though the chance of her being in there dancing are slim. She could barely walk in those ridiculous heels. He goes to Daphne and asks her, if she has seen Bay, but Daphne hasn't, not since Bay was sitting on that chair. He goes to the toilet and then suddenly it occurs to him that maybe she is unwell, maybe her wound bled or something and so after knocking a few times, he just storms into the bathroom, to the utter horror of the girl in there, fixing her makeup. Bay is not there. He texts her "where r u?" but gets no response and then remembers that she did not actually bring a purse or a phone, she just left her keys in the glove compartment of his car. The car! Maybe she went to the car? He starts to walk briskly but soon starts running, afraid that if she isn't by the car he will have run out of places to look. But before he even reaches the car he sees her, a little puddle of misery, sitting on the hood of his car and the anger and worry in him melt away. He slows down and pats her on the shoulder. "What is wrong?" She looks up, at his face, mascara running down her face, lipstick pretty much gone. "I ruined it all. I am wobbly and then bought heels and my feet hurt and I think they might be bleeding and the music was so loud and my head was about to explode and I know how much this evening means to you and you wanted it to be perfect and it was all just so bad. And also, your friends must think I am horrible." He grins, inadvertently, and hops onto the hood of the car, next to her, puts an arm around her and apologizes. "I am sorry, I didn't realize how loud it would be." He feels her sob once. "I should have realized. Even Wilkie got it, he brought ear plugs, but not me, I forgot…" she breaks off, bites her lower lip. "What did you forget?" he wonders and she looks up at him, past her long lashes, the look of a toddler who broke something and know he did wrong, then signs "I forgot you were deaf, I guess." He laughs heartily, presses her close to him and kisses the top of her head and then before thinking or obsessing about it, before he even realizes his words make it from his brain to his hands, he signs "I love you".

She knows those signs, they are unmistakable and she can't believe he just said it. He just told her he loved her, whilst she is sitting bare feet and in dirty and ripped tights on the hood of an old Volvo, with makeup down her face and after ruining the day he had been looking forward to for weeks. She just looks at him in shock and then, when his eyes open in expectant fashion, leans in for a kiss. Then she moves back, looks him in the eye and signs "read my lips", though he of course always does. She wants his full attention though and she won't sign this, she will say it her way, the oral way, the way she always thought her first time would sound and look like. "I love you, too".

He has driven her home but she is in no hurry to get out of the car, and so they have been sitting here, leaning into each other in the flattened front seats of the car, his collar undone, her shoes in the back seat with his tie, her head on his chest, for at least an hour. It was not how he imagined it would be at all this evening, no dancing together, well really almost no ball at all. Those tickets were not worth the money he paid for them. But in a way they were, he thinks, his hands entwined in hers. She told him she loved him. She loves him. His body feels like it is made of helium, like he will just fly away any minute now. He strokes her hair and kisses her forehead, then signs "we didn't dance". She smiles back at him, reaches for his face and pulls it down to hers, places his mouth on hers. The kiss is soft, warm, caring at first, then more and more. Then she lets go of him, smiles and signs "There will be plenty of time to dance."


End file.
